Psalm 51

Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 51, our sermon text for today. If you need a Bible, you're welcome to take one off the back table and take it as our gift to you. I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness.

Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bowls will be offered on your altar.

This is the word of the Lord. Lord, thank you for your son who died for us sinners who need a savior.

Help us to be humble and hear from your spirit this morning. Amen. Do you love this psalm? Raise your hand. Do you love this psalm? Do you love this psalm?

You're glad it's in God's word. The circumstances behind this may not make you glad. Because David sins.

And yet, I'm glad this is in the Bible. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe this is the most important thing that David has ever done.

Is this psalm 51. So you know that David sins. He does two sins. He commits adultery.

And then he murders to cover it up. Right? And yet, David is known as a man after... You know, for decades, that perplexed me.

How could this be a guy who's known to be a man after God's own heart when he commits adultery and then murders to cover it up? That just didn't make a lot of sense.

Pastor Mike, you're here. I didn't even know you were going to be here. You're hiding. So David is a man after God's own heart.

And yet, he does these two sins. And that seems to be kind of crazy to me. My military mind just struggles with that. Maybe some of you also struggle with that thought.

And he is given the promise that he is always going to have someone on the throne. And the Messiah is going to come from David's line.

This is a guy who commits adultery and then murder to cover it up. And he gets that promise. And he's known as a man after God's own heart.

Incredible. And it makes me think, well, those are two sins that are pretty significant. As a matter of fact, David was underneath the law of Moses, the Mosaic law.

And those two sins would get him... Anybody know? Two death sentences. Two death sentences. He doesn't even get impeached. And I want to think a little bit about King Saul, who was the first king right before David.

And King Saul did two sins also. And I just kind of look at them, my military mind. And I just look at the two sins. And let's see. The first sin he does is he doesn't wait an extra hour for Samuel to show up to do the evening sacrifice.

He, like, waits seven days. It's getting dark. Feels a little bit of pressure from the people. And he does the sacrifice himself. Whoopee. Is that that big of a deal?

He does the sacrifice himself. Samuel shows up and says, you're in big trouble. You know, your kingdom won't last now. The second sin he does is he's told to take over the...

To go kill the Amalekites and just wipe them out. And he leaves King Agag alive. So he's showing a little benevolence. He's leaving the king alive, right?

That sounds okay to me. And then they keep some sheep. They don't kill all the sheep. So they keep some sheep. Sounds okay to me. Those two sins just don't seem to compare to adultery and murder.

Like, why does Saul lose the kingdom? And David is known as a man after God's own heart. And I think that's important to think about. Because Saul, after Samuel shows up, he says, you should have waited.

He's like, but the people, you know, they were looking at me. And I just felt kind of pressure. And I got the Philistines over there. And, you know, and I'm just kind of worried about, you know, my image.

And I'm kind of hiding. I'm afraid. And he's looking at himself. He's trying to justify himself. When we look to ourself, we're in big trouble.

The second time where he's like, Samuel's got to call him out three times. He's still like, well, you know, we kept some sheep alive so we could sacrifice them to the Lord your God.

It's a good idea, right? He's like, yeah, we disobeyed. Yeah, but we kept some sheep alive so we could sacrifice them to the Lord your God. Saul's looking to himself. He's trying to justify himself. He keeps King Agag alive because now he's got a trophy.

You keep the king alive, it's a trophy. It's all about himself. And even after that building or that monument, I'm sorry, even after that battle, he builds a monument to himself.

And finally he's like, okay, I sinned. You got me, I sinned. But will you at least walk with me before the people so that I don't look bad in front of the people?

That's what he says. After Samuel says, you're done, the kingdom's going to be taken away from you. So he's like, yeah, but will you at least walk with me so I don't look bad before the people?

So he's looking to himself and he's trying to justify himself. And when you justify yourself, you give up. You forfeit God's justification. When you justify yourself, you forfeit God's justification.

So I want to define that term justification. Justification is kind of like a coin. It's got two sides. And if you think about justified, you can think about it as just if I'd never sinned.

You see what I did? Justified, just if I'd never sinned. So you can remember that. Just if I'd never sinned. Justified, justification. One side of the coin says, your sin's been taken away.

And the other side of the coin says, now you have the righteousness of Christ. So not only is your sin taken away, but now you have the righteousness of Christ. So two sides of that coin. Very important.

Saul justifies himself. He's all about himself. His sin didn't seem to be all that big of a deal at first glance. But when you justify yourself instead of letting the Lord justify you, that's idolatry.

And you're forfeiting God's justification. So now let's go to David. David, man after God's own heart, every time David does anything, he turns to the Lord.

He looks to the Lord. When he sins, he looks to the Lord. For morning coffee, he looks to the Lord. You know, the roses come up, he looks to the Lord. Everything about him, he looks to the Lord.

Works on his car and struggling with the wheel bearings, he looks to the Lord. Amen. Amen. He looks to the Lord. That's what David does. Almost kind of makes you a little crazy when you read some of this stuff, but he's just constantly looking to the Lord.

Like, just take, you know, you could have, you could have like really wiped out Saul right there for being a bad guy. He's like, nope, I'm not going to do it. I'm looking to the Lord. That's God's anointing. He's always looking to the Lord.

That's why David is a man after God's own heart. You see, my military mind wants to look at the sin. I want to make sin.

I want to make sin my teacher. I want to focus on consequences. But that's not what God does. Instead, he has David write this amazing Psalm 51.

Well, in order to kind of set the stage for this, we need to look at what got David into this situation and why he wrote this Psalm.

So I'm going to ask Allie, come back up, a little audible here. Read 2 Samuel. Turn to 2 Samuel 12, 7 through 15. Nathan said to David, You are the man.

Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel. I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah.

And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son.

For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the son. David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin.

You shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die. Then Nathan went to his house. Can you keep reading the 23?

Sorry. That's my mistake. No, that's okay. And the Lord afflicted the child that was Uriah's wife before to... That was... Let me start over. And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick.

David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them.

On the seventh day, the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us.

How then can we say to him, The child is dead? He may do himself some harm. But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead.

And David said to his servants, Is the child dead? They said, He is dead. Then David arose from the earth, and washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes.

And he went into the house of the Lord and worshipped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, What is this thing that you have done?

You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food. He said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live.

But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me. Thank you. All right, so we have to see the background of what's going on with David, because it says that Nathan the prophet came to him, and then he goes and writes this psalm.

And in 2 Samuel, you might think like, that's a lot. That's kind of strange. Some weird things going on there. First, notice that David doesn't repent for about a year.

Where do I get that? Well, it takes about nine months for a baby to be born, and then there's a baby. So we're talking around a year-ish. Okay, not exactly sure. It could be as much as two years.

I don't know. Might have only been nine months and a day. But it's a long time to not repent. And some people think that maybe Psalm 32 has some tie into this, because in there he says, when I remain silent, my bones wasted away.

You can just imagine knowing David that is, maybe this really was weighing on him, and he was struggling, carrying this, not repenting for this long. But it's been a long time.

And so Nathan comes to him, and of course, if you read the first part of 2 Samuel 12 there, he tells him this great story about a sheep, you know, and it's really nice, but David immediately recognizes that, and he says, that guy needs to die.

And then Nathan says, well, you're the man. You're the one who's guilty. But here's something that's good. And in 2 Samuel 12, 13, 14 here, David confesses.

As soon as Nathan comes to him, he confesses right on the spot, I have sinned against the Lord. He's not trying to justify himself like Saul. He says, I have sinned against the Lord.

He's looking to the Lord. I have sinned against the Lord. Just pure and simple, done. And then Nathan says, the Lord has put away your sin.

You shall not die. See, David knows he deserves to die. He's even said it, and he knows he deserves two death sentences. And Nathan says, the Lord has put away your sin.

You shall not die. Isn't that amazing? The Lord has put away your sin. Nevertheless, he says, because by this deed, you have utterly scorned the Lord.

That's important. He says, but you have utterly scorned the Lord. The child who is born to you shall die. Now, at first you might think, that's really terrible, Carl. What did the baby do?

That's just bad. I'm really struggling with that. The baby didn't do anything. The baby didn't deserve to die. That's terrible. Well, first you gotta understand, that baby is gonna skip finals and go straight into the arms of Jesus.

You know, that's, that baby's in heaven. And David says that. He's like, I am not going to, or he won't come to me, but I will go to him. So David, David says, that baby's gonna go, be in heaven.

He gets to skip finals. You think that baby's up there like, oh boy, I wish I could suffer some more down at work in the earth. You know, he's hanging out in heaven. I don't think so. We'll ask him when we get there.

But, that baby dies. Note, he says, because you've scorned the Lord. The Lord's name is at stake here.

He is, David is the king. Everybody knows that the God of Israel is taking care of King David and they're doing great things over there and now, this happens. The Lord needs to uphold his name and he will.

And, that's significant. Maybe not so much a consequence for David as, certainly, it is to show that the Lord's name is important.

But, the baby dies. Note that, that we want to, again, my military mind wants to focus on consequences. I want to focus on sin. But, what does Psalm 103.10 say?

That the Lord does not treat us according to our sins deserve. However, this is not a payment for sin. David is not making a payment for sin here. The little consequence you're going to pay for your sin.

You don't get to pay for any of your sin. When you get up to heaven, you don't get to say, well, I, you know, 10% of that I did pay for, actually, Jesus. You know, the baby died, so the 10%, so you only covered 90% of my sin.

You don't get to say that. That's not true. That's not true at all. But, sometimes, we kind of think that in our practical applications of life.

We act like we think that. But, we don't get to pay for any of our sin at all. So, what is, what is this purpose of, of these consequences?

Carl, if it's not to pay for sin, I just want to talk about Hebrews chapter 12, verse 7, that, that we need to consider all hardship as discipline.

The Lord disciplines those he loves. I like the word chastise. You might see punish in there, but I like the word chastise. We need to have spankings because it gives me a clean heart.

A spanking is what I need to get a clean heart. Yes, I spanked my children and they needed to get a clean heart.

And there are some kids, my kids never did this, but I've heard other kids that would say, I think I need a spanking mom, dad, because I need a clean heart. We need to get spanked for a clean heart.

The purpose of pain and suffering consequences is for a clean heart. it's not to pay for my sin.

God is after a clean heart. And so we just sang about creating me a clean heart and that's what David is experiencing. He's getting a clean heart.

Look at 2 Samuel 12, 15 through 17 here. He goes He goes He goes in and he starts to fast.

Even though he knows that this child is going to die, David goes in and he fasts, he lays on the ground for seven days. Why is he doing that?

Is he trying to change God's mind? Could use words like that.

Well David knows that just because prophecy happens where there's like this is what's going to happen to you, you have disobeyed what's going to happen. David knows that the Lord looks to repentance and the Lord will relent.

God's not just going to do something just because like quid pro quo. Well this is transactional, you've done this you're definitely going to get that. God is after our hearts so David knows that the Lord is looking for a heart change and he may relent and that's what David is appealing to because King Manasseh one of Israel's kings sacrificed his son he repented God relented of all the people that shouldn't be relented like King Manasseh you sacrifice your son buddy you just need to Ahab most evil king it says he's the most evil king he repents Elijah is like on his way to get lunch and he's got to turn around because he's like hey he just repented go back and tell him he's pretty good I'm going to relent like he deserved to not have God relent and yet God relents because he repents and then King Hezekiah gets another I think 15 years to his life because he repents also he humbles himself God is looking for a heart change he doesn't act the way our legal system acts well if you did the crime you're going to do the time

God is after a heart change that's what he's after here David knows that so he seeks the Lord and then the servants of course are afraid to tell him that the child is dead and David hears them and his response is once he finds out that the child is dead what does he do he gets up he shaves showers eats praises God and they are thinking he's weird what is your problem they thought he was suicidal and now he just gets up when the child is dead and he goes in and he writes Psalm 51 that's weird you should feel bad the child's dead why don't you feel bad because David knows it's about his heart and he goes in and just writes this amazing Psalm 51 all that was an intro

Carl you are way behind you should be talking about Psalm 51 so this Psalm of course written by David you're thinking well yeah this is for David he did those two sins Carl but it says to the choir master so we as a congregation we are to sing Psalm 51 this Psalm is for us yeah but Carl I'm not an adulterer I'm not a murderer I didn't do what David did I'm not well let's turn to James 4 James you out there where's James James you got the book of James memorized it's right after Hebrews we're gonna go to Hebrews and we're gonna make a quick write to James book of James James chapter 4 we're gonna read 1 through 4 here because I like you thought I'm not an adulterer I'm not a murderer and here James chapter 4 verse 1 through 4 says what causes quarrels what causes fights among you is it not this that your passions are at war with you within you you desire and you do not have so you murder you're a murderer you covet and cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel you do not have because you do not ask you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions you adulterous people you're an adulterer do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God so we are adulterers and murderers that is our heart our hearts are adulterers and murderers

David's heart was just as sinful before as after that may sound kind of strange to you but we're going to look and see what God's word says verse 1 and 2 here Psalm 51 verse 1 and 2 have mercy on me O God according to your steadfast love we could just stop right there at have mercy on me O God does that sound familiar have mercy on me O God a sinner ring a bell maybe this Lord I thank you that I am not like that tax collector he is such a sinner I go to shoreline does that remind you of Jesus have mercy on me O God a sinner and that man went home justified Jesus said there's justified again according to your steadfast love according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions David already knows his sin has been put away and yet he is praying for that

God often says here's what I want you to pray for well if you want me to ask for that why don't you just do it why am I because God's a relational God and he's looking for that relationship notice he's focusing on God's glory here and who he is his steadfast love his abundant mercy these are attributes of God wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin he's asking God now three through five here it's interesting for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me now today we would say things like he's owning it he's taking responsibility I don't like that terminology I've heard too many politicians and people in sports say yeah

I take full responsibility I'm owning it and they don't really take responsibility and they're owning it but I'd rather say he accepts that he's a complete sinner that's what David is doing that word accept is probably one of the most important verbs in our theology he accepts and my sin is ever before me then he says against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight now wait a minute you sinned against Uriah Uriah's family Bathsheba Bathsheba's family that's not just against the Lord here that's weird when you see weird things like that in the Bible there's often some nugget there and what he's saying is God when I'm when I'm before you there's just no argument see we can go to civil court and if you go to civil court it's like well you know what did Joe do to me this is what

Joe did and this is what I did but what Joe did to me was way worse and so the lawyer you know the judge is going to say well okay there's there's some things so you're going to have to do this but you're going to have to do that you know and that kind of that seems to make sense see in civil court when James and Avwe go to mom you ever happen where you guys have an argument James and Avwe go to mom and like well mom this is what he did to me well yeah well he did this so I did that and then we kind of like can start to justify there's that word again my action my sin but when you stand before God it's like did you did you disobey yes yes I did it doesn't matter what so and so did to me there's no argument it's like well I'm just looking at you right now and your heart did you disobey I had one son he was really good at at bringing smoke screens and he could make it very confusing and make it sound very good you know and my friend would one time he was watching him I said you just need to ask him you seem to say

Josiah did you disobey and he'd like yeah okay then and we need to be that way so here's here's David against you only have I sinned God there's no argument with you behold and then he says behold I was brought forth in in in in sin did my mother conceive me I was sinful from the very beginning I am a sinner my heart is bad it's always been bad and I don't want to say that I don't want to admit that I am just a wretch that I am a hot mess I do not want to accept that and yet that's exactly what I need to do verse 6 behold you delight in truth in the inward being this section right here this section 3 through 6 here is he is being humble he is being utterly humble there is no argument with

God he's accepting that he's a sinner and that's humility so that's why I like my definition of humility is accepting! he's at the top I'm at the bottom accepting I am rock bottom I don't get to look to the left and my right and say yeah you know I'm a little bit better than that guy over there no you're rock bottom before God there's an infinite gap do you know what infinity plus 100 is it's infinity maybe infinity plus a thousand that's still infinity I'm a thousand higher than that there's no argument before God and he says here this last part says and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart well that seems a little weird David you could have used some wisdom before you did that with Bathsheba and Uriah no this wisdom is referring to

Mike spoke a little bit about this fear of the Lord being the wisdom but when I think of humility and God's grace I think about the book of James and in James chapter 3 you can go back there gang we're going to go there one more time so put your finger in James James chapter 3 verse 17 and 18 gives a good definition of wisdom says but the wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle open to reason full of mercy and good fruits impartial and sincere and the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace well that sounds like fruits of the spirit that sounds like Jesus you teach me to be like Jesus in the secret heart you're changing my heart you're cleansing my heart you are making me like

Christ that's what you're after in verse 7 through 12 probably some of the best texts there is here purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than snow let me hear joy and gladness let the bones that you have broken rejoice see he is finding this joy joy in God's salvation he's finding joy here that's a first love relationship revelation 2 verse 4 and 5 talk about a first love relationship that we have with the Lord the joy of our salvation that intimate love relationship that we have with God that is an expression of what he has done for us 1 John 4 19 we love because he first loved us it's that expression it's my response a heart response to

God Rob would say this is a beautiful thing have mercy on me a sinner but this right here tells me 7 through 12 tells me that God is all about the ministry of reconciliation he's all about reconciling us to him and that's the gospel create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from your presence take not your Holy Spirit from me that's the gospel we are sinners and we need Jesus to take away our sin to cover our sin to cover our failures cover our inadequacies to comfort us so he is receiving God's grace here and he has humbled himself and you know what

James 4 10 says I told you we're going to be looking at James anybody got James 4 10 memorized James bladen! lift up sounds good even biblical that's not what James 4 10 says humble yourself before the Lord and he'll lift you up and David is humbling himself before the Lord and humility is the root of gospel character humility has got to be the key so David starts off with humility and then he just goes into receiving

God's mercy and grace here verse 13 through 15 here then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you deliver me from blood guiltiness oh God oh God of my salvation and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness oh Lord open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise see he has received God's mercy and grace and I say that he's received God's glory because God's glory is what he gives me grace is just God's glory given to me in Christ grace is just God's glory given to me in Christ grace is much more than just mercy and forgiveness grace is all of

God's glory given to me in Christ John 17 22 you can go back and review that whole chapter 17 but he says I give them the same glory you gave me they may be one as we are one so grace is way more than mercy and forgiveness!

joy he's receiving righteousness so he receives God's glory here in verse 13 through 15 and now he's giving God glory when I receive God's glory then it allows me to give God glory open my lips then I will teach transgressors your ways God uses sinlessly uses sin to bring him glory glory what are you saying Carl we should sin all the more so that grace will abound Romans 6 1 it almost sounds like you're saying that Carl well almost that's why Paul put that in there so that you wouldn't think that's what he's telling you to do instead you already sin a whole bunch but how many of you receive grace for all of your sin you walk in God's grace you walk in it you receive it like

David or do you think it's just a little weird that he gets up right away eats and showers and goes in and praises God after what he did you think maybe you would kick yourself a little bit I am not talking about godly sorrow I am talking about what you do when you don't receive God's grace so here he receives this grace and he says now I am going to bring you glory I am going to teach sinners your ways and I will sing about you wow what a testimony because I am so glad I am so glad this is in here Psalm 51 this is Jesus in the Old Testament there is no God of the Old Testament God of the New Testament it's the same God he's the same yesterday today and tomorrow and this is

Jesus right here in the Old Testament now look at verse 16 17 for you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it you will not be pleased with a burnt offering the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart oh God you will not despise maybe you've heard that from Jesus as well God is not looking at the outward things he's not looking at following these rituals and laws he wants to know about your heart he wants to know about your heart it's not about what you do on the outside it's about what your heart does what is is my heart God is after the heart change that's his goal and he will use whatever means he can to bring about heart change whether that means you sin or someone sins against you

God is interested in your response going to be heart change that sounds a little weird let's just take a look at David again and let's compare him to Job you know the story of Job Job does nothing so it says he's righteous it doesn't do anything and all of this stuff happens to him right he loses All of his money he's a really rich guy he loses!

ten children David doesn't lose any money he loses one child Job loses all of them Job loses reputation David doesn't lose his reputation Job goes months with these painful boils David only fasts for seven days and Job gets four chapters of brace yourself like a man Job we're going to talk says God firm speaks to him firm David gets a cute little story about a sheep and a shepherd my military mind looks at that and yet David he's able to repent and go to the Lord he responds to the Lord God makes him like Jesus Job also 42 verse 5 he's like my ears heard about you now my eyes have seen you now

I get it it's all worth it it's all about heart change seems like David fast tracked Job took longer I don't know unless you count in the months where he was not repenting God is after a heart change he is looking at the heart then verse 18 19 almost sounds like he's going back on what he just said do good design in your good pleasure build up the walls of Jerusalem then you will delight in right sacrifices in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings then bowls will be offered on your altar I thought he just said he wasn't into these offerings and now he's saying he is into these offerings and this is confusing but he's saying with the right heart with the right heart then these sacrifices are good if

I trust God then I will obey but I can obey without trusting God oh I can fool mom and dad I'm sitting down on the inside or no I'm sitting down on the outside but I'm standing up on the outside in the inside I say that right I'm sitting down on the outside but I'm standing up on the inside says the says the child who doesn't want to obey so we can have a wrong heart but I can look like I'm obeying on the outside but God wants me to obey on the inside and then I can obey!

on the outside trust and obey! So what he does in verse 19 he says he's asking God to bless Zion he's asking for a blessing do good to Zion in your good pleasure build up the walls of Jerusalem if you bless us Lord if we can receive your grace then we will bring you glory so David yes he sinned he needed to receive God's grace and he was able to give God glory but this is also our song we need to ask for God's grace and we can give him glory and we need to be reminded of that because we are all eternity amnesiacs we forget every day we forget that there is eternity there is heaven some people say we are functional agnostics practical atheists any given moment throughout the day something can happen and we forget our

Christian composure and we need God's grace can you pull up that slide I'm going to show this illustration being a sailor now we got some coasties and some navy people out here so this triangle represents a ship okay so that ship can you guys all see that that ship is supposed to be on that green vertical line going straight that's the track line that's the course line that's obeying that represents me obeying and that's and that's going to God but as a sinner I'm going to get off course and ships get off course all the time they find themselves off course and those green plus symbols over there those represent rocks so that ship is going toward rocks may not be a sailor but you know that ship and rocks don't go together right so you're going toward rocks and what happens is this person who's driving the ship the captain is on the bridge sitting in a chair and the person who's driving the ship has got the crew doing various things and the person driving the ship determines he takes a fix he finds out we're off course so that's like confessing we're off course captain we are off course now

I've confessed the captain then wants you to do what turn the ship right repent repent means to turn back to the Lord I'm going to turn back to the Lord see very nautical you didn't know that repenting had that nautical background so turning back to the Lord that's repenting so you confess you turn back to the Lord can you imagine being on the ship you're watching this and the person driving the ship says the captain captain we're off course we're going toward these rocks but I just want to take ten minutes right now and just talk about my failures as a ship driver I want to give the crew a chance to give me some feedback and I'm going to write them up here because I'm feeling bad about this and I should know better I've been doing this now for several months and I want to start over there with you Seaman you tell me what I've done bad here and maybe some things

I can work on and then maybe I'm even just I don't care about all that well how many of you when you sin you do that kick yourself I should know better I'm an elder shoreline I should know better you kick yourself could you do what David did get up go praise God write Psalm 51 eat shave shower or are you going to do what this ship driver kick yourself stay off course maybe continue even heading toward rocks you ever find yourself getting angry after you sin and you kind of make it worse you know you throw the wrench against the wall in the garage because you made a mistake and now you get angry and you broke something and you get angry because you broke something that's what

I'm doing I need to turn to the Lord and it seems kind of weird at first but that's humility I accept that I am just a wretch that I am an adulterer I'm a murderer and I need Jesus and really what I'm doing the reason I'm kicking myself over here is I'm not accepting that it sounds good like well you know I really gotta I should know better that's false humility you're being humiliated that's not humility I need to accept that I'm a sinner that I'm terrible and the faster I accept that the faster I turn back to the Lord and that's the Christian life you're constantly off course confessing and turning back confessing and turning back confessing and turning back that's what it's about and when I stand before the Lord there's no arguing

I know the weight of my sin I am an adulterer I am a murderer I deserve death I deserve that death and yet he takes that away that's the way it's going to be when I stand before him I'm going to know the depth of my heart compared to him and I'm going to know what God has done for me through Jesus that he's covered that he's given me that grace so I guess I want to leave you with that to think about can I accept that I'm an adulterer in my heart I'm a murderer in my heart that I am just as guilty as David and I need Psalm 51 just as much as he needed Psalm 51 that's what I need let's pray thank you father for your word for this

Psalm God I'm we are grateful for this because we need Jesus help us to constantly turn back to you to see that it's all about you it's not about us and there's such freedom in that amen