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Psalm 51:13-19
~14 min read
TRANSCRIPT
Today, we will continue with our study on the theme: ‘True Confession, Repentance and Restoration’, based on Psalm 51. Just to recap what we have learned in our previous two messages: Psalm 51 was one of seven psalms written by King David, known as the penitential psalms. The other psalms were Psalm 6, 32, 38, 102, and 143. The word ‘penitential’ is an expression of great sorrow for sin that leads to seeking forgiveness and restoration.
Out of the seven penitential psalms, perhaps Psalm 51 was the most well-known. It was one of the saddest stories in the Bible. David had committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba. And when he learned that she was pregnant, he tried to cover up his sin by murdering her husband, Uriah. And then, he married her. Subsequently, he was confronted by the prophet Nathan who shared with him the story of a wealthy man who had many flocks and a poor man who had only one little ewe lamb. The wealthy man took the only little ewe lamb of the poor man and killed it. When David heard the story, he responded furiously, ‘That man deserves to die immediately.’ Nathan said, ‘Thou art the man, David.’ At that moment, God did a most wonderful thing. He brought conviction into the heart of David, so much so that he was crushed. David broke down, confessed his sins, and repented. At some point after that crisis, in humility, he wrote Psalm 51.
So far, we have learned from verses 1-9 how David appealed to God for mercy, for forgiveness, and cleansing. And from verses 10 to 12, he appealed to God for an internal renewal, "Create in me a clean heart", and for restoration. Remember, as a true believer, David did not lose his salvation, but sin had caused him to lose the joy of his salvation. Therefore, he cried out, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation". Now, we will consider the last section of Psalm 51: 13-19. The title of our message is: ‘True Confession, Repentance, and Restoration (Part Three)’.
VII. The Appeal To Be An Effective Witness
Our first point is: The Appeal to be an Effective Witness. Have you ever tried to witness for Christ, to praise Him, to worship Him, but somehow you cannot bring yourself to say anything for Him? Nor can you praise Him? You feel so unworthy, so inadequate. Why? Because you know your life is not right with God. There are some sins in your life, and unless you deal with those sins, you cannot be an effective witness for Christ.
Indeed, we know that our sins are personal, and we have to confess our sins, not someone else's sins. But that does not mean that our sins are entirely personal and private. Somehow, our sins will affect the people around us. And one of the ways in which our sins can affect the people around us is that we will lose our effectiveness to minister to them.
David understood that. Therefore, he pleaded with God, ‘Have mercy on me, forgive me, and cleanse me. Create in me a clean heart. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.’ For what purpose? He said in verse 13, "Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee." David knew that God's way of salvation was based on the atoning work of the unblemished Lamb, which points to Christ, and that was the only way sinners could be converted. Essentially, it was about gospel sharing. And he would never be able to share the gospel effectively unless he himself had been forgiven and restored. A true believer who has fallen into sin will not only want to receive forgiveness and cleansing. He will not only want to be restored of the joy of salvation. He would also want to be an effective witness of the very gospel which has saved him.
Dear friends, this is what sin would do to us. Sin will hinder us from being effective for God. Perhaps you desire to share the gospel with your unbelieving loved ones and friends. But somehow, you find yourself being ineffective. You are unable to share the gospel with true sincerity. Why? Because there are some unconfessed and unrepentant sins. Unless you confess and repent of those sins, you will remain ineffective.
So David cried out in verse 14, "Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness." From the time David committed the sin of adultery and the subsequent sin of murder to the time he was confronted by the prophet Nathan, it could be about 9 months to one year. You can imagine David, as a true child of God, would have to live in the guilt of his sins. He would have to live with this fear of his sins being exposed. It would be most miserable. His family life, his worship of God, his relationship with others, his duty as a king, every aspect of his life would be affected. That was why he cried out, ‘O God, you are the one who has saved me. You are the God of my salvation. But now I have sinned. There's blood on my hands.’ Most likely, he was referring to the mother of Uriah. ‘I am living in the guilt of my sins. Unless you deliver me, my tongue shall never be able to sing aloud of your righteousness.’
What does it mean to sing aloud of thy righteousness? Remember 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The word "just" has the same root meaning as the word "righteous," which means God acts justly and in faithfulness to His promise when He forgives us. God is just because He does it on the basis of Christ's atonement. God is faithful because He promised to forgive all who will come to Him in repentance and in faith. So David, he wants to sing aloud of God's righteousness, that the God whom he believes in is both righteous and faithful, and He will forgive all who will come to Him.
Again, it was about declaring the gospel. But declaring the gospel was not the only thing David wanted to do. He also wanted to praise and worship God. That was why he said in verse 15, "O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise." Sin will hinder us from singing and worshiping God, isn't it true? Sin will cause us to be silent, silent in shame. And only when God has restored us, then you and I will be able to move from this silence of shame to the shouts of praise, to sing joyfully of His grace, to sing joyfully of what He has done in our lives. Without which, you and I will be silent.
Perhaps some of you may be wondering, "Who says I am not able to sing even after I've sinned? I'm still able to sing week after week. I come to church, I sing." But deep down in your heart, you know that those words are just empty. Those words do not mean anything because they are not in tune with your heart. Sin can rob us of the joy of singing with sincerity, with meaning, and with understanding. When our hearts are not right with God, when we are living in sin, no matter what we say or sing, they will mean absolutely nothing.
Verse 16, "For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering." Here, it does not mean that David was dismissing the entire sacrificial system that God had established through Moses. What he was saying is that God was not interested in the sacrificial system without the heart. In other words, God was not interested in the external religion, in the outward show of spirituality.
If I may give you an illustration: Do you want to receive a gift from someone that you know is a disloyal person? Do you want to receive a gift from someone who does not have your interest at heart, who does not want to be reconciled with you? It is just the gift that he offers to you. Receiving the gift will become an insult, right? So, in a sense, David was saying, ‘If it is just the physical sacrifice that God desires, I would have given Him. If all I need to do is to fulfill the obligation to offer the required amount of burnt offerings, I would have done it. If ten oxen is not enough, then perhaps twenty or thirty oxen.’ In our modern-day context, if all we need to do to appease God is to give such an amount of money to the church, or to spend such an amount of time in the church, or to serve in a certain capacity, we would have done it. As someone said to me recently, ‘If money is the issue, then it is no issue at all.’ But that is not what God desires.
What God desires is the heart. Without the heart, we are like saying to God, ‘Isn't this what you want? My money, my time, my effort?’ Do you think God really needs our money, our time, and our efforts? Without the heart, all our gifts are but an insult to God. This is a reminder to all of us. When we give to the Lord, when we render our praises to Him, when we serve Him, without the heart, it is an insult to Him.
You see, sin is a heart issue. All our rebellion and disobedience begin with the heart, and we are separated from God, drawn away from Him. If sin begins with the heart, then it must end with the heart. For sin to stop, for us to repent, it must first begin with the heart being broken. Therefore, David said in verse 17, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." The word "contrite" means to be crushed. The opposite of a broken and contrite heart is a proud heart, and that is a hardened heart. A proud heart will try to justify his sins, or try to put the blame on others, or try to give excuses. And no sinner will ever turn to God in repentance and in faith unless his or her heart is broken and contrite.
That is the work of the Holy Spirit, convicting the sinner so much so that he is broken, his pride is shattered, his self-righteousness is crushed. All his excuses and defences are destroyed, bringing about this brokenness, remorsefulness, a sense of absolute unworthiness, and repentance. And then, he cries out to God for salvation. Only then, God will forgive and cleanse him through the blood of Jesus Christ, and cover him with His righteousness. That is why a broken and contrite heart is the only acceptable sacrifice to God.
This is in line with the teaching of Christ in Matthew 5:3-4. Remember, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”
Have you ever confronted someone of his sins and you expect the person to be remorseful, to be broken and repentant, so that he will be restored and then be effective for Christ again? But instead, his response is that of pride and arrogance? Where there is no brokenness, there will be no repentance. Where there is no repentance, there will be no restoration. And what is the result? The person will continue in his sins, or go into greater sins. Then he will leave the fellowship, and finally, he will stop worshiping God altogether. You and I have seen that happen so often.
May the Lord be merciful to us that none of us will behave like that. Let us humble ourselves and learn from David: If we have sinned against God, we know that our sin will hinder us to be an effective witness for Christ. Our sin will hinder us from praising and worshiping God. All our singing will mean nothing. We want to repent and be restored, and it must begin with a broken and contrite heart. Let our hearts not be hardened, and may the Lord be gracious to convict our hearts.
VIII. The Appeal To Be A Blessing
Our second point is: The Appeal to be a Blessing. David moved on to pray for God's blessing on Zion, that God will prosper the city and build up the walls of Jerusalem so that it would be a place where godly people could continue to present their sacrifices.
Remember, David was the king of Israel, and as the king, it was his responsibility to lead the people in the path of righteousness. But he has sinned. And how could his sins not affect the nation of Israel? Do you think David will be able to teach the people to walk in the path of righteousness? Do you think David would be able to teach the people not to commit adultery and not to commit murder if he has not repented and received forgiveness and be restored? He will never be able to do that. The only way he will be able to do that is that he will be a hypocrite.
How can we apply this lesson into our lives? As pastors, elders, and leaders leading the church, as parents leading the family, how can you and I lead the people in the paths of righteousness, our children, our congregation, if we ourselves are not right with God? How can we teach the people to be truthful when we ourselves are lying? How can we teach the people to be pure when we ourselves are immoral? How can we teach the people to be faithful in giving when we ourselves are stealing from our tithes and offerings? We will never be able to do that unless we are hypocrites. We'll be like hypocrites telling the people, ‘Just do what I tell you to do, and don't do what I'm doing.’ God forbids. None of us must behave like that.
There have been some debates over the phrase "build thou the walls of Jerusalem", and the reason why is because the walls of Jerusalem were not built during the time of David; they were built during the time of his son Solomon. So some commentators believe that these last two verses were added later on. But that may not be true because David could be speaking in a metaphorical sense because walls are often referred to or described to point to strength, as in the strength of Jerusalem, as in the righteousness of his people, which had been weakened because of his sins and now they needed to be restored.
Now, this is very common because in ancient times, the strength of a city would depend on how strong and fortified the walls were. Or David could be speaking in a literal sense. He knew that his son Solomon will be the one to complete building the walls of Jerusalem and the temple, and he did not want this important work to be hindered because of his sins. Therefore, he prayed, ‘God, be merciful. Prosper the city and build up the walls of Jerusalem.’
Either of these two possibilities can be true, but whatever be the case, the important point is that David wanted to be a blessing, not a stumbling block. He knew that his sins were a stumbling block to the nation of Israel, so he prayed to God for restoration so that he could be a blessing to lead the people in the paths of righteousness. As verse 19 says, "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."
All of us must take our sins seriously, but the sins of leaders and parents are especially serious because somehow they will devastate the people whom we are taking care of, somehow our sins will affect them. David knew that as the king, he has this awesome responsibility. He had sinned, not only he was affected, even the nation of Israel was affected, so he pleaded with God, ‘Restore me, and prosper thy city. Build up the walls of Jerusalem.’ If we continue to live in sin as leaders, our ministries, our fellowship groups, our church, our families will not be blessed.
Dear friend, are you a stumbling block or a blessing to the people around you? If you are living in sin, surely you are a stumbling block because the people around you will be affected one way or another. They'll be discouraged and disparaged. Your children may imitate you. If daddy and mommy can do it, so can we. Instead of being a stumbling block, we ought to be a blessing. And that can only happen if you and I have experienced true confession, repentance, and restoration.
So, we appeal to God for mercy, for His forgiveness, for His cleansing. We appeal to God for an internal renewal, "Create in me a clean heart". We appeal to God for restoration, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation". We may not lose our salvation, but we may lose the joy. And we appeal to God to make us once again an effective witness for Christ. Only then you and I can be a blessing to others like David.
Later on, God truly blessed him and caused him to lead the nation of Israel, and he became the greatest king Israel had ever known. Great is His faithfulness. May the Lord have mercy on us, teach us, and help us not just to understand this truth but to apply this truth into our lives. Let us pray.
Father in heaven, we thank Thee for giving us the opportunity to consider Psalm 51. Indeed, there are so many wonderful lessons we can learn from Thy beloved servant David. David is a man after Thine own heart, not because he's perfect; he is just as human as we are. But when Thou convicted his heart, he did not give excuses, nor did he put the blame on others, nor did he try to justify his sins. Thou caused him to experience this brokenness, this broken and contrite heart, which led him to cry out for Thy mercy, forgiveness, and cleansing, for this transformation of his heart, for the restoration of the joy of salvation, for him to cry out that he may be an effective witness for Thee, and to be a blessing to the people around him, especially the nation of Israel.
Oh Lord, likewise, if we have sinned against Thee, have mercy on us, forgive us, and cleanse us by the precious blood of Thy only begotten Son. Create in us this clean heart, this transformation, and restore unto us the joy of our salvation, which is a joy unspeakable, and make us once again an effective witness for Christ. We want to glorify Him, we want to sing praises, we want to worship Him. But if we are living in sin, if there are unconfessed and unrepentant sins, we cannot do that. And how can we then be a blessing to others? Oh Lord, be merciful, make us a blessing so that others may come to know Thee through our lives, all to the glory of Thy precious name. We give Thee thanks, and we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
THE BOOK OF PSALMSWonderful Words of LifeWonderful Words of LifePsalm 1:1-3
Having Confidence In Times Of TroubleHaving Confidence In Times Of TroublePsalm 3
Pray with Your Eyes OpenPray with Your Eyes OpenPsalm 5:1-12
Message 3: The Test of TrustMessage 3: The Test of TrustPsalm 11:1-7
Morning Devotion 2: Psalm 13Morning Devotion 2: Psalm 13Psalm 13
Message 4: The Life of TrustMessage 4: The Life of TrustPsalm 20:1-9
Learn To Deal With DepressionLearn To Deal With DepressionPsalm 42
Dealing with DepressionDealing with DepressionPsalm 42
God Is Our RefugeGod Is Our RefugePsalm 46
Morning Devotion 3: Psalm 46Morning Devotion 3: Psalm 46Psalm 46
True Confession, Repentance and Restoration [Part 1]True Confession, Repentance and Restoration [Part 1]Psalm 51:1-9
Morning Devotion 1: The Joy of Thy ForgivenessMorning Devotion 1: The Joy of Thy ForgivenessPsalm 51:1-9
True Confession, Repentance and Restoration [Part 2]True Confession, Repentance and Restoration [Part 2]Psalm 51:10-12
The Joy of SalvationThe Joy of SalvationPsalm 51:10-12
Morning Devotion 4: The Joy of Thy SalvationMorning Devotion 4: The Joy of Thy SalvationPsalm 51:10-19
True Confession, Repentance and Restoration [Part 3]True Confession, Repentance and Restoration [Part 3]Psalm 51:13-19
O Come, Let Us Worship the LordO Come, Let Us Worship the LordPsalm 59:1-11
Hear My Cry, O God!Hear My Cry, O God!Psalm 61:1-8
The Man that is Blessed of the LordThe Man that is Blessed of the LordPsalm 65:4
Wilt Thou Not Revive Us Again?Wilt Thou Not Revive Us Again?Psalm 85:1-13
Teach Us to Number Our DaysTeach Us to Number Our DaysPsalm 90:10-12
Morning Devotion 1: Psalm 90:10-12Morning Devotion 1: Psalm 90:10-12Psalm 90:10-12
The Lord Is KingThe Lord Is KingPsalm 93
Christian ParentingChristian ParentingPsalm 127:3-5; Matthew 10:37; Matthew 6:32; Psalm 113:9; Psalm 128:3
Morning Devotion 2: Obedience to God’s WordMorning Devotion 2: Obedience to God’s WordPsalm 119:1-8
Morning Devotion 3: The Cleansing Power of God’s WordMorning Devotion 3: The Cleansing Power of God’s WordPsalm 119:9-16
I Was GladI Was GladPsalm 122:1
Christian ParentingChristian ParentingPsalm 127:3-5; Matthew 10:37; Matthew 6:32; Psalm 113:9; Psalm 128:3
Message 7: What are children for? Heritage of godly seed for Christ!Message 7: What are children for? Heritage of godly seed for Christ!Psalm 127:3, Malachi 2:15, Ephesians 6:4
Christian ParentingChristian ParentingPsalm 127:3-5; Matthew 10:37; Matthew 6:32; Psalm 113:9; Psalm 128:3
A Prayer in the CaveA Prayer in the CavePsalm 142
