Feast your eyes on the one who forgives!

Reading: Psalm 51

Some years ago the BBC screened, and then axed, a programme called ‘confessions’

• The idea was simple. Get people to confess to stupid or ill-advised things they did as kids or teenagers, and do it for the entertainment of the public.
• The trouble was, in order to keep it sufficiently sensational people began confessing to cover-ups, adultery, and even to crimes … on TV

In 2011 Simon Mayo resurrected the idea on Radio 2 – this is how it’s described

Twenty years ago, when Simon was a whippersnapper presenter on BBC Radio 1, he received thousands of letters from listeners confessing their darkest secrets and worst misdemeanours, begging for his forgiveness. Every day, Father Mayo read out a confession – you may remember one about an unsuspecting goat; another involving Hammy the Hamster; one about a runaway milk float; or even the incident with Uncle Eric’s ashes – and then he’d decide whether to grant forgiveness or not.

Can you see the subtle allusion to religious confession here. He starts off as a ‘whippersnapper presenter’ and ends up being called “Father Mayo”

• for many people confession has to with religion and guilt and feeling bad about yourself, rather than being a route to freedom, forgiveness and joy!
• That freedom, forgiveness and joy is what God gave David and still gives today for any of us who adopt the message of this Psalm.

We have a perverse fascination with people’s confessions of what goes on in private. Even bogus confessions

Murder, They Said. Three disk jockeys at Los Angeles radio station KROQ admitted that they had faked an on-air murder confession in a bid to boost ratings. The deejays watched police conduct a fruitless 10-month investigation before confessing themselves. Their minor penalty: a week off the air.

What made David a great psalm-writer? His complete honesty and transparency as he confessed and faced his sin

This Psalm came about after a downward spiral into sin on the part of David, Israel’s greatest king

• It began with lust, went on to adultery, then deception, then murder, then lying
• in fact you can make a case for David having broken every one of the 10 commandments in this sordid affair that surrounded Bathsheba.

We all have a shadow side

• we know it, God knows it
• and what we do with that shadow areas of our lives will affect almost everything else
• our walk with God
• our relationships within the family, the church at work
• a man with one thing to hide finds it easy to hide the second, the third, the fourth and so on.

I have spoken to men in this position

• one thing is common among them … they hate it! … and often they hate themselves.
• they long to be transparent – to live life with nothing to hide
• but somehow they can’t bring themselves to be that honest
• with themselves – let alone their family or friends!

I’ve been there too

• I want to share this psalm with you not because it’s a wonderful Hebrew poem (which it is). Not just because it’s one of the best songs of forgiveness I know (which it is), but primarily because it has spoken to me so often >>> More often that I care to count.
• And the more I feast my eyes on the God of this Psalm, the more his forgiveness floods my own soul.
• My sin (or perhaps yours) may have been different from David’s but the way God deals with us is the same.

This morning I’d like to walk you through it and take you on the same journey that David went on in this Psalm.

In this psalm David is praying

• and he’s moving from having something to hide through to being authentic and transparent with Father

Today I simply want us to feast our eyes on the God who sometimes causes us to feel guilty, but never leaves us there. He uses guilt as a temporary state to bring us to himself and to freedom in Christ.

First port of call on the journey …

Understand the wide range of sin

David saw the wide range of his sin

The different words he uses here tell us about how wide=ranging his sin was

blot out my transgressions v1

Word describes definite rebellion, disobedience

• carries idea of wilful disobedience
• I choose to do wrong … leads to guilt

Psychiatrist “If I could solve the problem of guilt I would lose about 70% of my caseload”

wash away my iniquity v2

Word ‘iniquity’ carries idea of perversion, distortion

• missing the mark, not being up to scratch

E.g. piece of equipment that doesn’t function properly

• we say ‘It’s not up to spec’
• there’s a standard – but it doesn’t reach it

That was David – and that may be you too.

cleanse me from my

sin v2

The word translated ‘Sin’ implies the committing of wrong deeds themselves

I do wrong deeds because I am sinful (by nature)

• not the other way round

Understand the subtle grip of sin

Like a spiral

You may be saying ‘this doesn’t apply to me’

I’ve never murdered, committed adultery or broken my marriage vows as David had, anyone

• … or maybe you have and the Holy Spirit is alerting you to it now – don’t push him away! >>>

This particular spiral has three revolutions

revolution one: ‘All have sinned’

yes, I know that

• it’s all fairly general
• and that somehow makes it safe
• We have all sinned, I too have sinned, that makes me like everyone else.
• I’m not exceptional and therefore my sin can’t really be that serious.

revolution two: ‘I have sinned’ v3

I know my transgression sand my sin is always before me

Have you ever had a tune that you just can’t get out of your brain – an ear worm.

• that’s what David’s sin was like >>>

revolution three: ‘I have sinned against you‘ v4

Against you and you only have I sinned

But wait!

• Hadn’t he sinned against Uriah? – having him killed – yes
• Hadn’t he sinned against Bathsheba? – by seducing her – yes
• Hadn’t he sinned against the nation? – by betraying their trust – yes

But at its heart he had sinned against God

• all of our sin is fundamentally rebellion against God who loves us dearly

He could have gone into blame mode

blame his circumstances

“Oh it’s such a demanding job, being a king” I’m dealing with affairs of state all the time – can’t I have a bit of ‘me’ time?

Blamed Bathsheba

“What on earth was she doing having a bath in full view of the palace anyway – surely she realised she could be seen – it’s her fault!”

Blamed Uriah

He’s disobeyed the king by not going home to have sex with his wife – of course he deserves to be punished – it’s his fault

It’s so easy to blame circumstances, people, situations and systems for failings that are, in truth, our own responsibility.

And yet here is David acknowledging his own culpability

Few things are more demoralising than a blame culture.

the guises of guilt

What does guilt look and feel like?

David describes it graphically! It’s like …

feeling contaminated v7

cleanse me with hyssop

Hyssop – bristly plant used in the ceremonial cleansing of a house or a person.

• children of Israel – hyssop used to daub the doorposts with blood of the sacrifice
• “When I see the blood I will pass over”

Maybe you’re here with a very real sense of being unclean before God

• you’ve tried to rid yourself of guilt but failed
• God is here – He can do what you can’t
• … cleanse you

“Wash me and I will be whiter than snow”

The same cleansing David experienced can be ours too.

sadness v8

“Let me hear joy and gladness”

David used to enjoy a glad walk with the Lord

• He led lively heartfelt exuberant worship in the temple, but now that had all gone
• (perhaps he still went through the motions)

crushing weight

let the bones you have crushed rejoice

That’s a very telling image. It’s showing us that it’s God himself who (on occasions like this) send crushing guilt into our souls >>>

It also hints that guilt like this need only be a temporary state – that rejoicing is just round the corner!

the way out

You may say ‘I know all this – painfully real

how do I get out?!

• E.g. public buildings are required to have ‘exit’ signs

here is the exit

David prayed for a sequence of deep things.

… thats the nature of recovery from sin (sexual or otherwise) it has to go deep .

We can see them from the verbs he uses

create in me a pure heart v10

Because it was his heart that had been polluted by his sin

• Personally David could do nothing about it
• Only God could create in him a clean heart

God creates out of nothing >>>

Do you need God to answer this prayer in you

• is there some pollution >>>
• ‘create in me (here in Victoria) a clean heart’

• just feast your eyes on the God who delights to answer that prayer!

renew in me a right spirit v10

Bible often speaks of ethical standards of write and wrong

• purity and impurity

David knew he couldn’t make himself right

• but God can!

In the same way that my passport runs out and needs to be renewed, so David’s clean spirit needed renewal >>>

Don’t reject me v11

Ps 51:11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

When a person get embroiled in sex outside God’s ring fence they often do so in an attempt to feel wanted, or accepted or valued.

• … and that may have been part of David’s inner motivation to sleep with Bathsheba – but there was a trade off.
• Being intimate in her presence meant he was outside the intimacy of God’s presence.

He had rejected the Lord and not he’s asking the Lord not to reject him.

And this is why I want us to feast our eyes on God in this psalm

• If our God was a God of reciprocity – giving us what we deserved, he should (he ought) to have rejected David, and moved on to locate a better candidate.

There are two things that David had lost that he desperately cries out for in this verse

Intimacy – “Do not cast me from your presence”

Literally – cast me from your ‘face’

(the only way to see someone’s face was to be in their presence)

And power – “Do not …take your Holy Spirit from me.”

And we urgently need both!

• If you’re aware of the absence of the Holy Spirit’s work in your life, maybe this is a place to look. Look for undealt-with wrong doing.

restore me

Ps 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation

There was once a time when David’s heart thrilled with the intensity of worship – (leading worship in fact) but now all that had God

• and he begs God to restore it!

When I’m right with God and my wrong-doing is no longer an issue between us, the inevitable consequence is joy!

You may be a new Christian

• you may be a Christian of many years standing –
• it doesn’t matter

The way to know freedom from sin and peace with God

• the joy of the Holy Spirit is just the same
• be honest with the Lord about your sin
• ask him to forgive you
• as best you can, turn away from it
• ask the Holy Spirit to fill you afresh

motivate me v12

Ps 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

David’s choices had left him in a position where he wasn’t particularly willing to obey the Lord

• his motivation to act for god had been damaged

So there needed to be a fundamental change in his heart at the deepest level

at the level of his motivation – what gives him a buzz to carry on.

Is it possible that some of us are praying this prayer “Lord, I want to have a willing spirit once again!

• Willing to serve you, willing to follow you, willing to give to you, willing to sacrifice for you.

David’s promise v13

When forgiveness arrives, when liberation materialises there’s something we find we want to do – tell people

Ps 51:13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.

A forgiven sinner no longer needs to hid their sin and will signpost people to the God who restores and forgives and renews.

• David wants God to use even his tough experience to bring about the same spiritual change he experienced in the lives of people close to him.

This is God’s extravagant grace!

Stand to pray

If you’re aware of the crushing weight of sin that David knew

• be honest with the Lord about your sin
• ask him to forgive you
• as best you can, turn away from it
• ask the Holy Spirit to fill you afresh

(Ministry team + music)

Here is love