5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise.
16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Introduction
As I said last week, this Psalm is a theological masterpiece. When it comes to the deadly seriousness of sin; the pain and trauma of guilt; and the joy that comes with repentance–There is not another passage like it in all bible.
I am absolutely amazed that David could write this and I assure you, it is a tribute to God’s greatness, not David’s. I am impressed with David’s wisdom and understanding. This Psalm does accent the power of God’s grace, which is an encouragement to me.
I. THE PROBLEM BEGINS WITH PERSONAL SIN
[1] Note the fact that David takes ownership of his sin. Go back to verses 2-3…
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.
David is aware of the fact that others have sinned but his first concern is with his sin. He does not mention Bathsheba or anyone else.
Like the old negro spiritual…“It’s not my mother or my brother but it is me O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”
G. K. Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, theologian and art critic. He is often referred to as the “prince of paradox.” Time magazine observed of his writing style: “Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out.” Some years before Chesterton’s promotion, a London Times editorial asks the question: “What is wrong with our world?” Chesterton’s reply became the most famous of all answers. It went like this: “What is wrong with this world? I am.” If every man understood this, the world would be a much better place. We always begin with our sin. We cannot teach transgressors God ways unless we deal with our sin. Would n’t it be refreshing to see people gathered in the streets to confess their personal sin rather than finding fault with America and our founding fathers. This crowd is so intent on prosecuting our founding fathers for owning slaves that they are completely oblivious to their own sin.
[2] David also understood that sin is inherent. We sin because we are sinners by nature. We do not have to sin to become sinners, we are born sinners.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me. [v.5]
II. THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO DEAL WITH SIN
Adam and Eve sinned; we all know about their sin. Like David’s sin, it is recorded for all mankind to see. They did not deal with their sins properly. They tried to [1] hide it , [2] cover it, [3] deny it by blaming others.
Sin is a problem, one that man cannot handle.
God intervened in Adam and Eve’s case and in our case as well. God can handle sin, we cannot.
Our first step in dealing with sin is to [1] Recognize it and call it by name…iniquity, transgression, etc. We will never get victory over sin in general. If it was a lie, we call it a lie. If it was stealing, we call it stealing. Then we [2] Confess it to Him. We agree with Him that we have sinned and that our sin is evil. It is against Him and society as a whole.
I heard a story of the college freshman who didn’t wash his clothes for the first month at college and then he bundled them up and washed the entire bundle because he was embarrassed for the folks in the Landry mat to see his filthy clothes. Then to make bad matters worse, he dried them in a bundle which took hours. Got to his dorm room, untied the bundle and the closes were still filthy.
The way to deal with sin is one at a time and you call them what they are; you don’t call adultery an affair and you don’t call drunkenness a disease. [3] After identifying the sin and calling it by name, you give it to Jesus. He can handle all our sin. He has already suffered for it: we are not putting more suffering on him when we give Him our sin. We are acknowledging the fact that sin is bigger than we are and we need a SAVIOR.
III. THE RESULTS OF DEALING WITH SIN THE PROPER WAY IS JOY
The happiest people in the world are sinners who have just been forgiven. The story of the Prodigal son is a perfect illustration. Note all the references to joy in Psalm 51…
[v.8] Make me to hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
[v.12] Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
[v.14] Forgive me for shedding blood, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
[v.15] O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise. It is hard to praise God when you have no joy. I’m not sure it is even possible.
You know that if there is joy in heaven when a sinner repents, there is going to be joy here and joy in the heart.
Sin creates a heavy burden that saps the soul of joy. Repentance washes away the guilt and sorrow that sin produces. Just as soap removes dirt, repentance cleanses us. It unburdens us. {Pastor’s conference}
Conclusion
Sometimes, the only way to get to where God wants us to be is through the portal of a broken heart.
Quote
Where God loves, He afflicts in love and whom ever He afflicts in love learns a lesson that will last for all eternity.
~Thomas Brooks
Sermons 