PSALM 51:12-19
INTRODUCTION
The Pastor arose to address his congregation. “There is a certain man among us today who is flirting with another man’s wife. Unless he puts ten dollars in the collection box, his name will be read from the pulpit.”
When the collection plate came in, there were 19 ten-dollar bills, and a five-dollar bill with this note attached: “Other five on payday.”
Early in 1993, British police accused two 10-year-old boys of the brutal murder of 2-year-old James Bulger. The two boys pleaded innocence. During the two-week trial the young defendants responded to police questioning with noticeable inconsistency. The climax of the trial came when the parents of one of the boys assured him that they would always love him. Confronted with irrefutable evidence linking him with the crime and the assurance of his parents’ love, the boy confessed in a soft voice, “I killed James.”
The miracle of God’s love is that He knows how evil we are, yet He loves us. We can confess our worst sins to Him, confident that His love will not diminish.
IV. THE PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING VV. 12-17
In part one of this text, I said that if you were a believer and you sin God would not remove His Spirit from you, but you would lose the joy of God’s salvation in your life. Since the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in the hearts of believers. When you sin as a Christian the Holy Spirit does not leave, but you grieve Him; you quench Him. You do not allow Him room to work in your life as the Holy Spirit would like to operate. Sin short-circuits the current of the Holy Spirit that hinders Him from working in your life.
David pleads with God to restore to him the joy of God’s salvation in his life. The word restore is an interesting word.
The word “restore” is used of a Surgeon who replaces a broken bone. It is also used of a fisherman who mends a torn fishing net. So David is saying, as a Surgeon puts a broken piece of bone together; as the fisherman mends his fishing net, repair, "restore to me the joy of Your salvation." Salvation is of the Lord. A life of sin will rob you of the joy of God’s salvation.
In verse 13, David promises, he vows to be a teacher to transgressors. David is pleading to God not only to restore him, but also to re-commission him. David promises to become a pastor to those who have also rebelled against God. He vows to be a teacher to those who have missed the mark. First, the sinner who has experienced a deep sense of his own sinfulness, the forgiveness of God, and the sweetness of restored joy shows concern for others. David’s recaptured joy could not be contained; it has to find an outlet. David wants to share his experience of God’s forgiveness and restoration with others. Silence was unthinkable. He cannot keep this experience to himself. The Psalmist who prayed “restore to me” also prays that he may be instrumental in restoring sinners to the ways of the Lord.
You cannot lead a person to where you have not been yourself. If you were traveling to a city or a country where you have not been yourself, would you ask a person who like you, has not been there or someone who knows the place? I bet you would ask the one who knows the city or the country.
David is saying that he would be a pastor to others who have sinned against God and think that there is no way to return to Him. David is saying that he would teach others who have backslidden that God is a God of a second chance. That is what sharing the gospel with others is all about. Witness to others as D. T. Niles wisely put it is: “A beggar telling other beggars where to find bread.” Witnessing is a pardoned sinner telling other sinners where they can find God’s grace and forgiveness.
You can find grace and forgiveness from God when you make a trip to the foot of the cross. David was once again qualified to be a bearer of good news. I believe one of the reasons many that call themselves Christians are silent when it comes to sharing the gospel is that they have not tasted the joy of salvation. When you taste the joy of salvation, you cannot remain silent. Like a beggar you would like to tell others where to find the bread of life.
David says that he will teach transgressors the ways of the Lord and sinners shall be converted to Him. God’s ways in this context are His mercy, compassion, His grace, love, and forgiveness.
Are you stuck in sin, in your own ways and you think there is no way out? Brother or sister there is a way out for you. Come to Jesus with all your baggage, your mess and He will give you rest. He will transform you from the inside out. What a testimony David could now bear to the pardoning grace of God! To men and women who have grievously failed, he could say, “Take heart! See what my God has done for me. He will do no less for you." In that way, David was able to turn his trouble into treasure and his sorrow into song. Who is a pardoning God like our God? Or who has grace so rich and free?
Second, (vv. 14-15) praise is an appropriate response to divine deliverance. Deliverance here is from blood-guilt.
“Blood-guilt could signify either the judgment resulting from a grave sin requiring the death penalty (cf. Ezk. 18:13) or the sin that led to the death of an innocent man" (cf. 2 Sam. 12:5, 13).
If you have tasted the grace of God you cannot help but to praise Him for a new lease on life. I don’t understand Christians who come to church and seal their lips when others are joyfully praising the Lord. They stand and watch as if they are in a different world. If you knew the price that God paid in order to save you, you can’t help but to praise Him continually. If pagans could dance before their dumb gods or idols, you can do better than that when you are before the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
David was keenly aware that God’s righteousness manifests itself, not only in judgment (v. 4), but also in forgiveness and faithfulness to His covenant (cf. 1 John 1:9), when He sets aside the just penalty for sin (v. 14). Is this not the gracious way in which our loving Father still threats the truly penitent sinner?
After his failure, Peter was engulfed in self-reproach. So far as his witness was concerned, he could see no alternative to the scrapheap. But that was not His Master’s view. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail, and when you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31, 32). In that single statement, Jesus assured Peter of His prayerful support, warned him of his temporary defection, and envisaged his subsequent recommissioning. The backslider was to become a pastor to backsliders.
The sinner looks to His Lord (v. 15). The word “Lord” here means Adonai in the Hebrew language, which means, “Master,” “Lord.” David looks to Adonai for renewed favor (“open my lips”) so that he may freely praise the Lord for His grace (v. 15).
Like Paul, David could not lightly or easily shrug off his sense of blood guiltiness. Paul mourned: “Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prison,… but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them” (Acts 26:10). David prayed, “O Lord open my lips and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.” David is asking God to remove the impediment that has rendered him speechless (Ezk. 3:26ff.). In the Psalmist’s case this hindrance may have been his broken relationship with God, and it was not a question of eloquence but of inability to speak.
When you live with an unconfessed and unrepentant sin, it robs you of your confidence to share your faith with others. Because you are not right with God how can you tell others how to get right with God? As I said last Sunday, it is not Satan who has silenced many Christians. It is not Satan who has made many Christians ineffective but sin. Why is it that in Africa and in the United States you can see a church building everywhere, why is it that many people are flooding the churches but the crime rate keeps on growing? Why are Christians in Africa and in the United States not influencing the culture and the society? I can tell you why? It is because today many pastors and evangelists are preaching only prosperity gospel, while neglecting the deadly power of sin. Many have lowered the standard of discipleship. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after Me let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Today we are raising up “what is in it for me Christians,” but not what I can contribute to the cause of Christ for what He has done for me. Some people want you to beg them to come to church. Let me tell you, I will never beg you to come to church. If you knew what Christ has done for you, you would not wait to be asked to come and worship Him. Now the motto of some people is what can the church do for me. The church is not here to distribute money and gifts. Rather the question should be what could I do for the church, what can I do for the cause of Christ? It was J. F. Kennedy who said, “Don’t ask what my country can do for me but what can I do for my country.” Some have popularized the so-called “name it and claim it” theology. I also believe that because many Christians are involved in the same sin as the unbelievers, they have lost the boldness to share Christ and stand for the truth. But any time revival or spiritual awakening comes to the Church; Christians are able to impact the culture and the society as a whole.
Why is this not happening in Africa and in the United States? Yes, Satan is our enemy as believers but our number one enemy is sin. It is our unconfessed and unrepentant sin. Sin silenced David from testifying to the goodness of the Lord. What besetting sin are you dealing with? Is it lying? Is it gossiping? Is it drunkenness? Is it fornication? Is it adultery? Is it grudges and unforgiving spirit? Is it bitterness? Is it anger, resentment, slander, malice, backbiting, jealousy, envy, and covetousness? Are you involved in some occultism, do you still consult "Babalawo", or a witch doctor? When you were coming to the U.S. did you bring a talisman, an amulet or some potion that you have to rub on your body? It is through sin that Satan can get to you. By the way, if you signed a pact with a juju man[1] or any prophet before you came here; you have signed a pact with the devil. Destroy that pact or whatever it is and the Lord will set you free. Do you attend some of these weird churches? What are you hiding from God? Give it up brother or sister so that God can restore you and use you.
David suggests that true praise requires the authorization of God in the form of deliverance and restoration, or blessing in general, otherwise it would lack substance.
Third, (vv. 16-17) a deeper commitment results from a heart of gratitude. The Lord delights in truth rather than sacrifice (v. 16). David is not objecting to or denying sacrifices as a form of worship. Rather he senses God’s concern for inner loyalty as a prerequisite for the presentation of animal sacrifices. In other words, when your heart is not right with God your sacrifices are not pleasing to Him. That was the problem of Cain in Genesis 4. Jesus says, “If you are going to offer your sacrifice to the Lord and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering at the altar and go reconcile with your brother before you come to present your offering to the Lord" (Matt. 5:23-24).
God desires truth from you and me. That was why God rejected Saul as king of Israel. Before he was to wage war with the Amalekites God gave him specific instructions (1 Sam. 15). Ladies and gentlemen when God tells you to do something, do it God’s way and not your way. Some people want to serve God their way and not God’s way. We get the famous quote, “To obey is better than sacrifice” from Saul’s rebellion against God. God told Saul, “Rebellion is like idolatry and a haughty spirit is like the sin of witchcraft.” Admission of sin and repentance of sin are the characteristics that distinguish David from Saul. It takes a humble man or woman to say; “I have sinned.” David commits himself unreservedly to the Lord by presenting “a broken and a contrite heart” (v. 17; cf. 34:18; Isa. 57:15; 66:2).
The prerequisite for spiritual renewal is humility, which is also the prerequisite for a walk with God. “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness And to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
V. PRAYER FOR NATIONAL RESTORATION VV. 18-19
David prayed not only for himself, but also for the restoration of the nation of Israel as a whole. When a leader falls, the nation falls with him. That is why we are to pray for our spiritual and political leaders. That is why we are to pray for pastors, evangelists, missionaries, Christian workers, and national leaders. David is saying do good to Zion. Do good in Your good pleasure to Israel. Restore the walls of Jerusalem.
Sin has broken down the walls of Jerusalem. In other words, sin has affected the protection and security of the nation. David knows that only God can secure and protect the nation.
Let me bring it home. Fathers, we are the head of our respective homes. If you live in sin you leave room for the devil to attack your family. If you let down your spiritual guard you make your family insecure and unprotected. The devil is like a thief, don’t give him room.
It is like a family that leaves a window slightly opened and goes to bed. When you do that it is an invitation to thieves to break into your house to rob you. Spiritually speaking, seal any open door in your life and the evil one cannot take advantage to assault you. When you sin don’t cover it up; don’t give excuses; don’t explain it away. Confess your sin and ask God for forgiveness. It takes a man or woman of God to say, “I have sinned.”
David says that when God restores the walls of Jerusalem then He shall be pleased with sacrifices of righteousness. When God restores you after confession and repentance, then He is ready to receive your sacrifices. Today our sacrifices are not the blood of animals offered to God. Our sacrifices are our bodies, the living temple of God, which is our reasonable service. We do this by renewing our minds daily and not conforming to the standard of this world. Temptation is inevitable, but God has provided a way of escape in Jesus Christ.
Martin Luther said that you cannot prevent the birds from flying over your head but you can prevent them from making their nest over your head.
A small boy drew a picture of a car with a man in the driver’s seat and a man and a woman in the back seat. When asked who was in the car, the boy replied, “That is God driving Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.”
He that falls into sin is man.
He that grieves at sin is a saint.
He that boasts of sin is a devil.
He that forgives our sins is God.
Don’t be ashamed no matter the gravity of your sin; come to Jesus Christ and He will forgive you and save you. If you are a believer and you have been convicted in one area or the other come to Jesus and ask Him to forgive you and restore you. He is the Lord of the second chance. Maybe you are a father or mother but you are not being the spiritual leader to your family, come and take your stand and promise to lead your family the way God wants you. Maybe you have sinned seriously and repeatedly and have concluded that there is no hope of God's forgiveness for you. Yes, your sin is serious but God's grace is sufficient for you. Return to Him, confess your sin, and ask for His forgiveness and like the prodigal son, God will forgive and restore you as He did for David.
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