Passage: Psalm 51
Intro: It’s hard to imagine a believer who had messed up worse than David.
1) life filled w/ God’s grace, David blew it.
2) lusted after and committed adultery with a good friend’s wife, Bathsheba, who got pregnant.
3) lured Uriah home to explain pregnancy, but Uriah had too much integrity, even drunk, to play along.
4) so David arranged to have him killed, then married his widow.
5) we might expect David, when confronted with his sin, to jump out a window or resign his office.
6) and there is no doubt that there were terrible consequences in his family.
7) but David’s response was to run to the very One he had offended.
8) and we have this wonderful Psalm to encourage us to do the same.
9) remember, David was an OT believer with much less revelation than we have.
10) if he was confident to approach God, how much more confident should we be?
I. David’s Confidence Was Based on God’s Character
1. it is very instructive to see what David did not do when his sin was revealed.
2. in fact, in 2 Samuel 12:13, we have David’s entire defense.
PP) 2 Samuel 12:13
3. no excuses, no “I couldn’t help it”
4. no “but remember all the good things I have done.”
5. 100%, total dependence on the character of God as described in v1
6. progressive, from “mercy”=pity for an animal.
7. to “unfailing love”=a disposition to goodness”
8. to “great compassion”=like a parent has for a child.
9. no surprise that David wrote in Psalm 103…
PP Psalm 103:13-14
10. David’s only reference to himself is that he is a sinner, as God already knows.
11. and his confession is an agreement with God about that clear fact.
12. and so it is because of the character of God that David can boldly ask God to “blot out, wash away, cleanse this terrible sin.
13. confession is not negotiation. It is not an attempt to “balance the scales.”
Il) early in our marriage I used to do this all the time. “Yeah, but think of all the good things I have done.”
14. confession is a person coming to God with faith that He is a forgiving God.
15. the confidence is not in self, but in God.
PP Ephesians 2:8-9
16. Satan will tell you God isn’t interested in your confession, but the Bible tells us He most certainly is. V6
II. David Was Confident that His Restoration Would Be Complete.
1. look at verses 7-12; the grammar is powerful.
2. the focus is on the action of God is every instance. Passive verbs
3. cleanse, wash, let me hear, hide, blot out, create, renew, restore.
Il) we go to the doctor with heart trouble, and we ask him to fix us. All we offer is our need.
4. David only offers the act of confession back in v3
5. but notice what he expects, what the result of God’s action will be, (not might be)
6. clean, whiter than snow, joy, pure heart, steadfast spirit, joy of salvation
7. David asks in v11 that God not remove the Holy Spirit from him.
8. OT truth, now we know that will not happen.
PP Ephesians 1:13-14
Il) I’ve know guys, and I understand, who won’t sing “Create in Me a Clean Heart” for that very reason.
9. here’s the bottom line: God’s forgiveness comes with complete restoration to joy.
10. because every sin is known to God, His forgiveness must be complete for all time. Past, present, future.
11. this means that we may know the loss of the experience of joy because of sin, but the relationship does not change.
Il) do you ever experience times in your marriage when things are not real pleasant? Loss of joy? Not loss of the relationship itself, just the full experience until confession occurs, (usually by the male)
12. be confident of the fullness of God’s forgiveness, don’t let Satan convince you that the restoration is partial or conditional.
13. if you are not convinced that your restoration is complete, it is not because it isn’t, but because we do not believe.
III. David Was Confident that His Usefulness Was Restored
1. this is one of the enemies favorite battlegrounds.
2. “maybe you are forgiven, maybe you are even joyful, but you certainly aren’t useful.”
3. there is a powerful word in v13, “then”
4. clearly a word of result.
5. David’s experience of forgiveness actually makes him a more useful servant of God than he was before.
6. something in us recoils, because we don’t want such an awful sin to have anything positive connected to it.
7. but we cannot deny that David’s experience of sin and forgiveness has opened his eyes and heart to the fullness of God’s gracious character, as well as to the appropriate response of you and I to sin. V17
8. and here we are, 3000 years later, being taught the ways of God by a man who learned them in an incredibly powerful school.
PP Luke 7:47
9. now this sounds like an excuse to go out and sin with gusto.
10. let’s avoid that lie.
11. but the amazing thing is that God can even use the awfulness of sin to make us into more effective servants.
12. He restores us to complete usefulness, overcoming Satan’s desire to use sin to make us unfit servants of God.
Conc. This truth cuts two ways.
1. for the one who has put his faith in Christ, embrace the complete reality of forgiveness and all that it means.
2. restoration, usefulness
3. if you still know the conviction of your sins, Jesus is the answer.
4. Jesus has died to pay for your sins, and if you will transfer your trust…
