Can you remember a time when you were caught? There may be nothing worse than the stomach-sinking experience of being caught? I can still remember getting in a fight at school in seventh grade. After it was over I hurried away to the bathroom – all good. But then the assistant principal appeared – I’d never been so scared. I was caught, my mom would find out, gymnastics – the one thing I loved in the world would be taken away – life was over. Can you remember a time when you were caught. Psalm 51 is a prayer written by a man who was caught – his name was David. David was king over God’s people, Israel, around the year 1,000 BC. David was a man after God’s own heart, but he went through a season in his life when his heart drifted from God. The slow drift was deadly. David used his kingly authority to commit adultery with a woman named Bathsheba and she became pregnant. When David’s plan to hide and conceal the affair didn’t work, he had Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, murdered and welcomed Bathsheba and her unborn baby into the palace as his wife. With his sin concealed, life was good for David again. But what David did displeased the Lord and the Lord revealed everything that David did to the prophet in Israel named Nathan. At the risk of his life, Nathan traveled to the palace and confronted the great king. You can imagine the stomach-sinking feeling that David had. David was caught.

What should we do when we are caught? What should we do when the Holy Spirit, our conscience, or another person catches us in or points out our sin? The Holy Spirit inspired King David to pen Psalm 51 after he was caught in his sin so that we know how to respond when we are caught in any sin. The big idea of Psalm 51 is: Come to the Lord for complete cleansing. Now, how do we do that? Psalm guides us through four: 1. Approach the Lord on the basis of His love and mercy 2. Admit your sin honestly to the Lord 3. Ask the Lord to renew and restore your heart 4. Live in the joy of your salvation

APPROACH THE LORD ON THE BASIS OF HIS LOVE AND MERCY

Psalm 51:1 – Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Do you notice what David doesn’t pray? He doesn’t pray, “Have mercy on me O God, because I am the king” or “Have mercy on me O God, because I’m turning over a new leaf and this won’t happen again” or “Have mercy on me O God because I’m typically better than this; it’s a one time deal.” David doesn’t approach the Lord on the basis of anything that is in David or that David has done or will do. David is caught and the first thing that he does is approach the Lord on the basis of the Lord’s very nature: steadfast love and abundant mercy. The words “steadfast love” translate one very important Hebrew word: Hesed. Hesed refers to God’s loyal, covenant love for his people. The Jesus Story Book Bible describes Hesed as God’s never-stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love. The Lord is hesed. The Hebrew word translated mercy, scholars say, stresses the compassionate, warm feeling one has for someone who is helpless and dependent (as a mother’s feeling for the child in her womb). Throughout the Bible, again and again, this is how the Lord describes himself: The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And David doesn’t even know the half of it. The New Testament says “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). David knows that he’s completely unworthy and yet he still belongs, not because of who he is but because of who the Lord is. What can anyone do when caught in sin but approach the Lord on the basis of who the Lord is: full of steadfast love and tender mercy.

Friends, this is your first step. Are you caught in or convicted by your sin? Don’t run and hide. Don’t rationalize it as a slip up and move on. Don’t promise to turn over a new leaf and get serious. Don’t try to solve it, reason with it, or inspect it. There is no life there. Instead, take the first move: approach God on the basis of his love and mercy. Approach Lord because he’s already taken your sin upon himself at the cross and paid it all. Approach the Lord because his very heart is gentle and lowly toward sinners. Because of the Lord’s steadfast love and mercy toward you, there is nothing in him that you need to fear and no dark side that you need to placate. So, approach him. Open your heart to him. Talk to him. Get alone with him today or tonight. Approach the Lord not on the basis of anything in your, but because He is steadfast love and mercy. Ok – once you approach him on the basis of his love and mercy, what do you do?

ADMIT YOUR SIN HONESTLY TO THE LORD (VV. 3-5)

Admitting your sin honestly to the Lord is far easier said than done. To admit your sin honestly to the Lord, you first have to know what sin is. In verses 1-2 uses three different words to characterize what he’s done; transgressions, iniquity, and sin. David doesn’t characterize what he’s done as a slip up to be rationalized or hidden, but open and intentional rebellion against God and his way. Question: when you talk to the Lord about your sins, how do you characterize them? Is it like this? Honest admitting begins with knowing what sin is. But admitting your sin honestly to the Lord requires not just knowing what sin is, but knowing your sin! Psalm 51:3 – For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Now, I think that it’s important to notice that David didn’t really know his sin – rightly understood – until Nathan confronted him. We don’t tend to see ourselves clearly because sin and our hearts are deceptive. We need to be known by God’s people to know our sins. We all need a few Nathans. A few people who know us, who see our lives on a regular basis, and who have been given permission to help us know our sin so that we can honestly admit them. Who are your Nathans in this church? Find some and commission them! Now that we know what sin is and know our sins, let’s listen to what it sounds like to admit our sins honestly to the Lord.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. -Psalm 51:4-5. Huh? “Against you and you only have I sinned?” David stole a man’s wife and then murdered him! Why is David talking like this? He learned it directly from Nathan who confronted him! Speaking to David in 2 Samuel 12:9, Nathan says, “Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.” The reason why David slept with Bathsheba, murdered Uriah, and tried to cover it all up was not because he Bathsheba was naked and beautiful, it was not because Uriah was in the way, and it was not because we are all human. No, it was ultimately because David despised the Lord’s word in his heart. And David goes further in owning up to his sin. Instead of characterizing his sin as a slip up or a freak accident, David admits that this is who he is and has been since the moment his life began at conception.

Are you caught? Has the Holy Spirit or one of your Nathan’s convicted you? Take the first two moves right away. With all the safety of the Lord’s steadfast love and tender mercy, honestly admit your sin the Lord. Here is what that can sound like: “Lord, I don’t deserve to be here, but I know that I belong because of your steadfast love and tender mercy. The specific act of rebellion I committed was_______. And Lord, I did it because I despised your word in my heart in_____ way.” “Lord, I don’t deserve to be here, but I know that I belong because of your steadfast love and tender mercy. The specific act of rebellion I committed was that I gossiped about my brother/sister in Christ. And Lord, I did it because I despised your word in my heart, which says to love because you first loved me.” Admitting your sin honestly to the Lord is good, but it often feels bad. Admitting our sin honestly can often leave us feeling dirty, ashamed, distant from God, and still wanting to sin. And that’s why coming to the Lord for complete cleansing has a third move:

ASK THE LORD TO RENEW AND RESTORE YOUR HEART

The “heart” describes is the truest you. Listen to how asks the Lord to renew and restore his heart. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. (Insert brief exegetical comment) 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

I love that! David has honestly admitted his sin, but he doesn’t jump to telling the Lord what he will do. No, David first asks for the Lord to do what only He can do, to renew and restore him in the deep places of his secret heart. Specifically, we hear David ask the Lord for two specific things: a clean heart and a joyful spirit. David asks the Lord to purge sin from his heart, wash sin from his heart, and do the miracle of creating in him a clean heart. He asks the Lord to create in him a clean heart because this is the heart that despised the Lord’s word and led him to adultery and murder. He asks for a clean heart because he still has a heart that loves sin. David’s request has meant a lot to me lately. Instead of only admitting my sins to the Lord, I’ve been asking him to create in me a heart that loves Him and loves what he loves and doesn’t love my besetting sins. That’s a miracle and we ask him. Along with a clean heart, David also asks for a joyful spirit. Not only does David feel dirty and stuck, he feels depressed and distant from God. It’s not an uncommon feeling after we confess our sins. So, David asks the Lord to let him hear joy and gladness and to restore to him the joy of his salvation. The prayer to hear joy and gladness probably refers to David’s desire to return to public worship with God’s people. Nothing quite restores joy in us like hearing the joy and gladness in the songs of God’s people. When you sin and you’re depressed, come to church and hear joy and gladness. Still, David is depressed by his sin and harassed by his conscience. So, he prays that the Lord will restore to him the joy of his salvation. The greater our sin the more joy we should have in our forgiveness! Once you’ve admitted your sins to the Lord and to the right people, do not let your conscience harass you or the Devil accuse, instead ask him to restore to you the joy of being forgiven and uphold you with a new willingness to obey Him. Friends, don’t stop with admitting your sin. Your sin isn’t the truest thing about you. Ask the Lord to create in you a clean heart that loves his ways, ask him to restore to you the joy of your salvation, and get yourself to church to hear joy and gladness.

David has approached the Lord on the basis of his steadfast love and mercy – friend, go! David has admitted his sin honestly to the Lord – friend, say it to him! David has asked the Lord to renew and restore his heart – friend, it’s ok, ask him! But coming to the Lord for complete cleansing leads us to a whole new kind of life! That’s move four:

LIVE IN THE JOY OF YOUR SALVATION

Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you (Psalm 51:13). I love to hike. The exhaustion and beauty fill me with so much joy. But hiking alone has nothing on hiking with Andrea. The joy of a hike is multiplied in sharing it with Andrea. The joy of our salvation is multiplied when we share it with others. A forgiven sinner finds new vistas of joy when they help other sinners return to the Lord. Complete cleansing includes the joy of helping restore others. Who can you move toward this week and help restore?

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise (Psalm 51:14-15). Living in the joy of your salvation means singing our crazy heads off to the One who is full of steadfast love and mercy and does not deal with us according to our sins or repay us for our iniquities (Psalm 103). We are a singing church because we’re not going to Hell anymore! Living in the joy of your salvation means turning sinners back to the Lord, singing our crazy heads off to the Lord, and happily refusing hypocrisy.

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:16-17). Living in the joy of our salvation doesn’t primarily mean going through the motions or offering up grand gestures to God. No, living in the joy of our salvation means walking before Him with a tender heart so that we just keep coming for more love and mercy. And finally, David turns outward to the wider community of God’s people in prayer for their good. David knows that his sin has had dire consequences on God’s people. Sin never only affects us. Therefore, he prays…Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar. Psalm 51:18-19

CONCLUSION

“What is missing from the lament pattern is a section of confidence.” Preach the gospel!