1aFWB8Z3qk4

0:56Spent a lot of time teaching Psalm 51 through the years. It's a very important psalm. Many times I use it in the counseling room to speak about a repentance plan, how to repent, how to repent well. And as a good king, David shows us one of the most important things in life, and that is how to repent well. And so it is a great psalm to go and as a house. To Psalm, look at what thorough repentance looks like and imitate and learn the way of thorough repentance.

1:44But tonight, I'm going to look at this psalm from a little different vantage point and emphasize something else. This psalm teaches us one of the most important messages of life, or one of the most important lessons of life, that's found in the entire Bible. Not only shows us how to repent well, but it shows us the path that a soul must go through to be cleansed. You know, we understand how the physical body needs to be cleansed. We can understand that washing, but how can the spirit be cleansed?

2:28How can a soul that has been defiled by sin become clean again? How does that immaterial part of our being get washed? It's not like we can put it under a faucet, turn it on, and scrub it down. How is the soul cleansed? This psalm shows us what a soul must go through, or what must happen for a soul to be cleansed. This is really an extension of the morning concept of rest, finding our rest in God. How do we rest from a guilty conscience? How do we find rest from sin?

3:26Well, we have to be cleansed. We can't save ourselves. So we're very dependent upon God's cleansing work. We are looking for something that God does because what God does is thorough and complete, but whatever we do is lacking and incomplete. So we need a cleansing that is of God's proportions, of God's ingenuity, of God's insight and omniscience. Only then can we rest. This past week, I saw a car wash. But what was unique about this car wash, it was an automatic car wash, but all of the walls were glass. So you could see the car going through the car wash and at different stations.

4:30You had windows on all sides, so you could watch a dirty car work its way through various stages in the cleansing process. And in a similar fashion, and I don't want to push the metaphor too far, but in a similar fashion, Psalm 51 shows us what a soul looks like as it goes through various stages in the washing process. Various stages that are necessary for a soul to be cleansed. Then the Psalm goes on to show what a cleansed soul looks like. There's joy, there's a right spirit, there's many things. I won't get to those things tonight, but we will look at a significant portion of it tonight.

5:29You know, a dirty soul doesn't come into God's presence. That's basically one indication of a soul that's not right, that's dirty, a soul that cowers because of sin, a soul that finds reasons to stay away from God, a soul that lacks confidence before God, a soul that is distant from God and is not progressing and not moving towards God, but it's defiled, clean, or dirty. And so, what I want to do tonight, just in our time, just look at the stages of God's cleansing of a soul from sin. I just want to look at three stages tonight so that you will experience the reviving power of not only knowing how God cleanses sin and what must take place, but knowing that your own sins are forgiven and how God does it.

6:36So, three stages of God's cleansing work we'll look at tonight. The first is the Holy Spirit's conviction. And we're going to see God at work here: God the Father, God the Spirit, God the Son at work in this cleansing process. First of all, is the Holy Spirit's conviction. Look at verse 1: For the choir director, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Now, that event is recorded for us in 2 Samuel, verse 11, or chapter 11. And I'm going to read the account.

7:27Bring this fresh to your mind, what David did. So I'll begin in 2 Samuel 11, verse 1, and read through a portion of chapter 12 to verse 13. 2 Samuel chapter 11, verse 1. Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David stayed at Jerusalem. Now when evening came, David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her. And when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. The woman conceived, and she sent and told David and said, I am pregnant. Then David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. So Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and The people in the state of the war. Then David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and wash your feet. And Uriah went out of the king's house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his Lord, and did not go down to his house. Now, when they told David, saying Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey?

9:34Why did you not go down to your house? Uriah said to David, The Ark of Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing. Then David said to Uriah, Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his Lord's servants, but he did not go down to his house. Now in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab. And sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written on the letter, saying, Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle, and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die. So it was, as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David's servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died. Then Joab sent and reported to David all the events of the war. He charged the messenger, saying, When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king, and if it happens that the king's wrath arises and says to you, Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who struck down Abimelech, the son of Jerubasheth? Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near to the wall? Then you shall say, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. So the messengers departed and came and reported to David all that Joab had sent. Him to tell. The messenger said to David, The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate. Moreover, the archers shot at your servants from the wall, so some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead. Then David said to the messenger, Thus you shall say to Joab, Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle against the city stronger and overthrow it, and so encourage him. Now, when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. When the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife. Then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.

13:03Almost a perfect crime. But then comes the prophet. Chapter 12, verse 1. Then the Lord sent Nathan to David, and he came to him and said, There were two rich men, two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing except one. Little ewe lamb, which he brought, bought, and nourished. And it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread, and drink of his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him. Rather, he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. Then David's anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion. Nathan then said to David, You are the man. Thus says the Lord God of Israel, It is I who anointed you, king over Israel, and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. I also gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your care. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these things. Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have Taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 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 from your own household. I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed, you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and under the sun. Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.

15:48What a horrific sin. I don't think we have read this much about a horrific sin in all of the Bible, the only one excepting that of Judas. This is the most horrific, catastrophic failure of a king written in Scripture. This is horrific. It's premeditated. It has all the components of deep sin. It has sexual sin. Deceitful, murder, bribery, coveting, lying, cheating, stealing. Those are the things that he did that were wrong. But there are a lot of things that he failed to do that he should have been doing. He should have been leading his people. He should have been protecting his people. He should have been being loyal to his people. He should have been loving his neighbor as himself. That's what the king was supposed to do: to lead the people in the way that they should go.

17:20It's a horrific sin. And that's when you come back to Psalm 51, verse 1: a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. David is broken. The Holy Spirit has convicted him and convicted him deeply. And that is why we have this psalm. And if David could find joy. Again, after such sin. So can anyone else always had mixed feelings about this sin of David? Look at what he says in verse 8 again. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice. You see, David sees the coming of Nathan as God addressing his sin. He's responding to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. Let the bones which you have broken, that is a rich metaphor for the conviction of sin.

18:46You see, conviction of sin does to the soul what broken bones do to the body. Imagine if all your bones are crushed. That's what he's saying. Let them leap for joy again. Let the limbs that you have crushed put into a complete state of brokenness and shatteredness. Let those same bones leap again. David shows us how a soul is cleansed. By the cleansing power of God. But David shows us even something more profound. David is a great king. I've always had mixed feelings: like, how could a great king do something so awful? This is worse than anything you read Saul doing. I mean, this is horrific.

19:57But David wants to teach. You look down to verse 12, restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with the willing spirit. Verse 13, then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to you. If you will restore to me joy after what I have done, then I will teach other transgressors how to find that same joy in your cleansing power. And sinners will be converted. Look at what he says in verse 14: deliver me from blood guiltiness. I've got murder on my hands. I've got murder of a faithful, loyal brother.

21:01I have let down the military. Deliver me from blood guiltiness. How do you get the guilt of murder off your soul? And David's saying, verse 14, deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation, then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness. Deliver me, and then I will sing about your righteousness. Restore to me joy, and I will teach sinners how to be converted, how to deal with their sin. What's one of the most effective ways to teach?

21:52Put your story in song. And that's basically what he does. Psalm 51. David's a great king. He says, I'm going to show sinners who have sinned greatly before God how a soul is cleansed. We need a king like that. But even more so, we need a king who can cleanse the soul. There's David. But we need a greater David. We need a greater David. David, who can cleanse the king. Cleanse his heart. Cleanse his mind. Put a right spirit in him. Be convicted. Fill the remorse for doing what is wrong.

22:47Broken bones. Conviction of sin does to the soul what broken bones do to the body. It is spiritually paralyzing when you let the Spirit of God convict you of sin. And David is truly broken over his sin. You know, other kings of his time would have had no problem doing what David did. God loved the prophet who comes in and addresses the king in such a manner. But David is different. He receives the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, and he truly grieves his sin, and he grieves the damage that it caused in Israel. You can tell by the end of the sermon or the end of the song in verse 18. By your favor, do good to Zion. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. Think about how demoralizing his sin was to the nations.

24:01Oh, so this is why we have a king. You want me to be loyal to this? Sin destroys community. And David was grieved over that. But in this psalm, I mean, if you sinned and you wanted to teach, would you put your sin to song? Would you want your confession to be remembered? We'd always like to just put it away. Wouldn't we? I really admire David for this psalm. He truly grieves his sin, the damage it caused, and he says, I want to teach people how to find joy again after great sin.

25:04David shows us how to respond when God confronts our sin. And even though God had crushed David's bones, David knew God was capable of making them leap again. You see, true conviction of sin will make a person spiritually inoperable, but the good news is that God's compassion and love is not. Loving kindness when combined with faith, as we've been looking at in Hebrews chapter 4, that will make a person spiritually alive. Bones, broken bones, leaping again, a soul that is crushed, rejoicing again.

25:54The three stages of God's cleansing work begins with the Holy Spirit's conviction. Second, it's dependent, involves the Father's compassion. Look back at verse 1: Be gracious, be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness. According to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgressions. God, you must, at this juncture in my life, you must be gracious to me. You must be inclined toward me, not against me or not away from me. O God, Elohim, Creator, ruler of the universe, these are all your, you've seen all, you rule all, you've given me so much.

26:57Show kindness to me, be gracious to me according. According to your loving kindness, not according to what my sins deserve, not according to my faithfulness, because it's very evident that I wasn't very faithful to Uriah. Show kindness by blotting out my sins. According to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgressions. Show your kindness to me by blotting out this horrific stain that is on my inward being. Blot out, wipe away. That's what it means to wipe away, wipe out. Isaiah uses the same word.

27:45In Isaiah 25:8, he says, He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord will wipe tears away from all faces. Now we know how to wipe tears from faces. Get that image. Isaiah 43, 25, he uses the same word, I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. So, just as it's, you can wipe away a tear and leave no trace, so God is able to wipe away sin from the immaterial part of our being.

28:30Look at what he says. Wipe, be gracious to me according to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgressions. Word for transgressions is mutiny, my rebellion. Blot out my mutiny, all my mutinies, and especially involved in this whole sin with Bathsheba and the lairs. All of them, rebellion, all along the way. Blot out such, Lord God. You see, blotting out transgressions is something only God can do, and He will only do it out of His compassion.

29:17David is saying, God, don't leave me like this. Don't leave me with this incredible guilt, this incredible shame. Be inclined favorably to me. I really botched it. I rebelled according to the greatness of your compassion. Don't leave me like this, Lord. I deserve it. But have empathy. Have great loving mercy. Don't leave me like this. So, in dealing with sin, we must receive the Holy Spirit. Spirit's conviction, and then we must turn to the Father's compassion.

30:08Finally, we must look to the Son's sacrifice, the Son's sacrifice. The Son's going to be instrumental in the washing. Look at the beginning of verse 2, wash me. Look at the end of verse 7: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. You've got this verses in here from 2 to 7 about washing, washing. That tells us a little bit of something about what the Son's cleansing sacrifice is going to have to do. God's work in cleansing involving the Son's sacrifice is going to have to be several things. First of all, it's going to have to be thorough. The Son's cleansing is going to have to be thorough. Look at verse 2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

31:07Two commands to God. You must be very thorough in your washing. You must be comprehensive, thoroughly. That's in the place of emphasis. Thoroughly, very thoroughly wash me. Wash me from my iniquity, from the guilt, from the punishment, and cleanse me from my sin. Remove that guilt. Don't let that stay on my record. And remove me from the cleanse me from the sin, that which gave rise. Thoroughly, you must do a comprehensive. We're talking about a thorough detailing. Ever got your car really thoroughly detailed? Some of those guys can really clean. I mean, they get down in there and they can, well, that's what he's saying here, but up on a much more profound level. Thoroughly clean. You must cause me to be in a state of cleanness, and that can only happen by a comprehensive and thorough washing.

32:32He knows that he cannot wash himself. Second thing about the Son's cleansing is that it has to change the sinner's focus of attention. Look at verse 3. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. What David's saying is, look. My mutiny, my crime, I am constantly knowing. And my sin is before my eyes continually. In other words, what he's saying is, my sin, everywhere I go, it's like a neon sign. I see my sin everywhere I go. It's hanging over my head everywhere I go. It's always on my mind. Everywhere I go, it's just like my sin is just flashing. I am reminded of it by every corner. When I go in and meet my army generals, I am reminded of my sin.

33:41When I look and I see Bathsheba, I am reminded of Uriah the Hittite and what I did. When I see Nathan the prophet, my sin just comes, I see it everywhere I go. Could you imagine living like that? When I walk the street, I know I've let these people down. Everywhere I go, I just see my failure, my mutiny to God and to all that that caused. And I see my family. I see the dysfunction now that's in my family. I see a sword that's never going to leave. And I see my sin. I see myself. It's always before. How do I get rid of this?

34:28This cleansing happens. To be greater than the crime. Because the cleansing has to shift the sinner's focus away from self to the marvelous one who washes. Do you see that? Otherwise, the sinner goes around with eyes on himself. Yeah, so God's cleansing through the Son has to be thorough. It has to change the sinner's focus of attention from me to thee. Not to how great my sin is, but to how great your forgiveness is. But three, God's cleansing work through the sacrifice of the Son has to be just. Look at verse 4. Against you, you only I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge.

35:35You see, God is right, and David is saying, You are right to judge me. You are right. I have the one who's done evil in your sight. It was your law I broke. It was mutiny against you. You had given me so much. I broke your ways. You're justified when you speak. Not just justified, you're faithful. You are right when you speak. You are faithful to speak, to bring my sin to the light. It is right and good.

36:12And when you speak and blameless when you judge, you're right to judge me for this. You see, God is right when He judges a person. And God is. Can't just say, okay, David, no big deal. Let's move on. In pardoning David for this horrific sin, sins, layers and layers of sins, and all this, God has to be just. As He pardons David, it has to be the right thing to do. It has to be right. And that's why there's going to have to be a substitute.

37:00Fourth, God's cleansing work through the Son's sacrifice has to cleanse the sinner's nature. It has to cleanse the sinner's nature. It has to change his nature. Look at verse 5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. David is saying, Behold, look, in crookedness, in iniquity, I was brought forth. I was flung into motion. I was set on a trajectory of life, disposed to sin. Hurled into motion is what brought, I was brought forth. I was hurled into motion in crookedness. And in my sin, my mother conceived me.

38:02Some think this verse affirms that David was an illegitimate child, that he's not talking about original sin here. The world hates that doctrine, by the way, the doctrine of original sin, that we come into this world with a disposition towards sin, that we have inherited from Adam a fallenness that wants to sin. There's sin in the world because there's sinners in the world. And there's sinners in the world because we are born sinners. And that is what David is saying here.

38:40It's clear that he's not saying, I'm, my mother sinned. I'm illegitimate. That's the excuse, God. No, he's not making an excuse for his sin. David's not playing the victim card here. He's not saying, yes. My mom and dad were sinners, and I just had a really bad go of it. No, I know there's a series out about the house of David, and they portray him as an illegitimate child. They're wrong. David is not trying to blame his father and mother for his sin.

39:29David is lamenting the root cause of his sin and the root cause of sin in the world. And that's why he's writing the psalm, so that he can teach sinners how to be converted, and transgressors can be turned and figure out how to get their sins forgiven. So, David is recognizing his disposition to sin from the very beginning of life. There was never a time in David's life when he was free from the inclination to sin. His very conception set him on a trajectory of sinning, and that's what he is lamenting. Before I was set forth in iniquity, and in sin I was conceived.

40:16He's confessing his internal sinfulness and fallenness due to being part of the human race. And this is helpful because we too share that same fallen nature. There's sin in the world. Why? Because there are sinners in the world. And you know why there are still sinners in the world? Because God is merciful. We need a new nature. A nature that sets a trajectory. It sets a soul on a trajectory to righteousness. And that's what David is calling out for. I need, I was cast forth in iniquity. I was set in motion. I need something else. I need your work in me to set me on a new trajectory of righteousness.

41:13So God's cleansing work through the Son has to be thorough. It has to change the sinner's focus of attention. It has to be just. It has to cleanse the sinner's nature. Number five, it has to cleanse the sinner's mind. Look at verse 6. Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part you will make me know wisdom. Behold, what does God want? He wants truth. He wants reality. He wants that which is clean, that which is pure. That's what he delights in. He delights in that to be in the heart, in the very innermost person. That is what he wants. And in the most hidden Part of us.

42:02That's what he wants us. In the innermost being, in the hidden part, in the most inner secret part of our being, he wants truth. And he says, You will make me know wisdom. He wants truth. What is wisdom? The skill of applying knowledge. He wants truth in the inner parts and a skill of applying that truth to life. And then number six, the last. The Son's sacrifice. God's cleansing work through the Son's sacrifice has to include the Son's sacrifice. Look at verse 7. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Purify me. So he's getting back to this, what he started in verse 2: wash me thoroughly. And that washing comes to seven. Purify me with hyssop, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Purify me, you. You. You are the one who must be putting me through the sacrifice of your son into a state of cleanness. The sacrifice of hyssop. Let me put that. What was hyssop? Well, that was necessary. That was the plant that they would use to put the blood on the doorposts in the Passover lamb. So you also use it for ceremonial cleansing, the cleansing that comes from God, from the instrument of God, the sprinkled blood.

44:02Wash, purify me with that hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. And whiter than snow is a really beautiful metaphor, metaphor for a perfect and thorough cleansing. So, God's cleansing work is going to involve the Holy Spirit's conviction, the Father's compassion, and the Son's sacrifice. See, we need a greater king than David. We need a greater king, one that rises above the realms, one that's able to cleanse our souls, ones that are able to put us on a right trajectory of righteousness, to clean the inside of us. The Pharisees looked good on the outside, but not on the inside. We need a king who can cleanse us.

45:00A sacrifice that will thoroughly cleanse us, a king and sacrifice. Now that's the king. That's the greater David. And that's who David is pointing to as the instrument of God's cleansing work. You know, as we continue our celebration this week of the resurrection and all the events that took place between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Day, we were reminded of this great king who could control the universe, control the elements, but can cleanse the soul, who could change our focus from us to him.

45:58He said these words, John 19:28, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things had been accomplished to fulfill the Scripture, said, I am thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to his mouth. Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. The sun cleared. Cleansed his people.

46:33Holy Spirit convicts. The Father has compassion and the Son's sacrifice. We must respond to the Holy Spirit's conviction. We must look to the Father's compassion and we must appeal to the Son's sacrifice. And then David goes on, verse 8: Make me to hear joy and gladness. Let me hear words like, Your sin is forgiven. Your sin is blotted out. You are among the cleansed. You are free. Let the bones which you have broken leap for joy.

47:20Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we marvel at your cleansing work in the soul of man. Father, help us to respond to your convicting work. Help us appeal to your compassion and help us to look to the Son's sacrifice. We thank you for this great king who can do the impossible, undo the unthinkable, and cleanse. Really take away. Cleanse us from sin. And give us rest. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.