Rev. David Holwick A Psalms
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
January 4, 2016
Psalm 51
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I. Bad guys are out there.
A. Roxbury arrests.
Two men were charged with multiple car burglaries in Roxbury
this week after a resident saw the pair in his vehicle and
called the police.
The resident pulled into his Mountain Road home Saturday and
saw two men in another vehicle in his driveway, police said.
Both suspects fled the scene and the resident called the police.
The police brought along a K-9 named Zander, which cornered
one of the men in the woods and apparently bit him, too.
Ledgewood Baptist has a connection here.
Seven days before the arrest, we put him up in the Roxbury
Motel.
Or at least we tried to - they wouldn't accept him because
police had come to the motel on a previous occasion because
of him.
But I had promised him we would put him up for the night, so
I took him down to the Boundary Motel in Kenvil.
On the way over, he told me his life was tough and he couldn't
find a job because he had an arrest record.
But those arrests were due to other people he had been hanging
around, not anything he himself had done.
After I read the article about the car break-ins, I did a little
more research.
Two other arrests are reported for him, both having to do with
marijuana.
And in both arrests, he was all by himself.
What kind of future does this young man have?
What choices will he make from this point on?
B. You are not like this, are you?
1) Not exactly, perhaps - but you are more like him than you
may want to admit.
Rev. Sam Shoemaker, a well-known Episcopal priest who
helped start Alcoholics Anonymous, said this in a sermon:
"The wickedest people I ever talked to are not the out and
out pagan sinners -
They are the people who have grown too good ever to be
open to conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit,
the people who believe that on the whole, they are all right,
the people who enjoy a good reputation, and live on the
flattery of their neighbors."
#821
2) Like the young thief on Mountain Road, you are all sinners.
3) To get right with God, we must come to grips with this.
II. Psalm 51 has a big sin in its background.
A. The psalm's introduction says it all.
1) The introductions were put in years later by those who
collected the psalms together to use in worship.
2) This note explicitly ties in the psalm with King David's
adultery with Bathsheba.
B. It was a very sordid affair:
1) First the adultery.
2) Then the pregnancy.
3) Then the attempted cover-up.
4) Then the contract killing of her husband.
C. David thought he had gotten away with it.
1) Then a prophet named Nathan dramatically confronted him.
2) David admitted his guilt and was forgiven by God.
3) But consequences remained: the child died, and turmoil
and violence marked his family from that point on.
D. This psalm is his personal confrontation with his sin.
III. Five principles for dealing with your sin.
A. Appeal to God. 51:1-2
1) David doesn't begin with remorse or contrition, but with
an assurance that his God is loving and gracious.
2) The word "Love" is "hesed," a Hebrew word for a special
covenant relationship.
a) David knew he had a personal relationship with the Lord.
b) Because of this, he is confident he will get the mercy
he is asking for.
B. Repent with words and action. 51:3-5
1) Confess and confront your sin in an honest way.
a) It affects us.
1> David admits that sin runs through his life. 51:3,5
2> This is an allusion to what Christians call
"original sin." We are warped from birth.
3> David also mentions the pain of crushed bones,
which probably alludes to the pain of guilt in
his life.
b) Most of all, it affects God. 51:4
1> He loves us at all times. 51:1
2> But our sin breaks our closeness to him.
c) What about Bathsheba and her husband Uriah?
1> David is not ignoring them, but he understands
that all our sin is ultimately against God.
2) Change direction.
a) This is the real meaning of repentance.
b) Many people feel remorse for what they have done, but
really don't want to change the way they live.
Joseph Queenan is a writer living in Tarrytown, New York.
A number of years ago his alcoholic father called him to
apologize for all the pain he had inflicted on Joe and
the family.
Joe knew what the pain had been.
For years his father had beaten the kids, terrorized his wife,
and wrecked the house.
He had gone through an endless series of menial jobs.
And like most alcoholics, he was a compulsive liar.
He was so lazy he didn't even bother to invent new lies.
At least three times a year he would tell them his wallet had
been stolen at the Philadelphia train station.
He would even use the kids.
Once, when Joe was 5, his father borrowed $20 from their
Catholic priest.
He took Joe to the local bar and for the next three hours
rehearsed the amount of money - $15, $10, $5 - he was to
tell his mother the priest had loaned them.
Joe's father was a devout Christian.
As Catholics, they said the rosary as a family devotion.
His father dragged it out so it would take 40 minutes.
One day during the ritual, their dad pitched forward dead drunk
and passed out in the middle of the room.
They left him there, face down on the carpet, all night long.
In the morning, he couldn't remember any of it.
Like many alcoholics, if he didn't remember it, then it
probably didn't happen.
He couldn't remember beatings, thefts, car accidents, or lies.
Then, out of the blue, Joe's dad called him up.
Joe's mom had left him, and he had lost his job and his pension.
But these events had convinced him to give up drinking.
He told his son,
"One of the things I've learned through Alcoholics Anonymous
is that you have to admit that you've hurt people.
"And you have to let them know how sorry you are.
"Son, I'm sorry for anything I may have done to harm you."
He then shook Joe's hand.
Joe Queenan liked the part about "anything I may have done."
And the apology with a handshake seemed like just another
ritual.
To many Christians, this is pretty much what repentance means.
You tell God you're sorry, and assume he'll accept you.
Did Joe Queenan's father really confess to his son?
He sort of said he was sorry.
But he added the phrase, "for what I *MAY* have done."
He wasn't really owning up to it.
Often we don't give much more to God when we confess our sins.
If we are serious about repentance, we have to say more to God
than "I'm sorry."
Genuine repentance requires a change in the direction of our
lives.
#121
3) Don't wait to repent.
You have the power to do it now.
Several years ago, while preparing to preach a sermon on
this psalm, Pastor Ray Stedman received an anonymous
letter from someone in his congregation.
The person wrote that he was a Christian but was involved
in a very serious and continuing moral failure.
The letter was an attempt to be honest and tell the pastor
the trouble in his life.
Pastor Stedman didn't know if that person would be in the
service the next Sunday or not, but he hoped he would be.
He decided to refer to the letter in his sermon for two
reasons:
1. Because it was anonymous, and he could do it without
betraying a confidence; and
2. Because the problem was of such a serious nature that
he wanted to help the person if he could.
The writer had acknowledged that he knew his action was
wrong.
But he excused himself on the basis that God had not yet
given him the power to break away from it.
That was clear self-deception.
The truth is that God has given us the power to break away
from these things.
The very possession of the life of Jesus Christ in us is
the power that it takes to break away from habits of sin.
No person will ever be free from the awful grip of evil
upon his or her life until he understands that he
already has from God all that it takes to be free.
But you have to step out upon it.
Sermon #5104
C. Seek Restoration. 51:6-9
1) Verses 6-9 are future tense of anticipation, not pleas.
2) Accept God's forgiveness.
a) Inner parts - means "heart." 51:6
b) Hyssop - used to cleanse lepers. 51:7
c) Hear joy - being restored to your community. 51:8
d) Bones rejoice - the physical anguish of guilt
is lifted off of you.
e) Blot out iniquity - erase from a book. 51:9
1> Youthful offenders have crimes purged at 18 after
good behavior.
2> God blots out our sins immediately if we are in
relationship with Christ.
3) Think of the cross of Jesus.
a) He suffered that we might be forgiven.
b) When we sin and don't repent, we nail him to cross again.
D. Be renewed from the inside out. 51:10-12
1) David's focus moves to salvation.
a) Instead of despairing, David prays.
2) Create a pure heart. 51:10
a) David is asking for a miracle.
b) In Christ we become "new creations." 2 Cor 5:17
3) Don't take Holy Spirit away from me. 51:11
a) David feared this due to Saul's experience.
b) Christians have promise that God will never let go of us.
4) Restore me to joy of salvation. 51:12
a) Salvation is not just a change in your spiritual status.
b) It is a relationship you can experience and feel.
1> Sin dulls that feeling and separates you from God.
2> Repentance can bring the feeling back.
E. Act outwardly. 51:13-19
1) Teach others God's ways. 51:13
a) God teaches us through hard experiences.
b) Be open and honest with others.
2) Praise God with your lips. 51:14-15
a) God wants to be worshipped...
b) "In spirit and truth."
3) Sacrifice of a broken, contrite spirit. 51:16-19
a) Get right with God in your heart first. 51:16
b) Then worship him in church. 51:19
IV. Communion is our opportunity to make Psalm 51 our own.
A. The time of reflection is not intended for daydreaming.
1) Seriously consider where you stand with God right now.
2) What are you doing about it?
B. We are symbolically eating and drinking Jesus.
1) It is a reminder of what our sin cost him.
2) But it also symbolizes that Jesus has the power through
his body and blood to give us new supernatural life.
3) Have you committed yourself wholeheartedly to him?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
Adapted from my sermon “When You’ve Really Blown It,” January 21, 1990,
which is itself adapted from the article "Publish Bad Tidings" by
Tim Stafford, Christianity Today, February 20, 1987, p. 30.
Kerux Sermon #5104, “How To Handle a Bad Conscience,” Rev. Ray C. Stedman,
Peninsula Bible Church of Palo Alto, California, http://www.pbc.org/,
November 2, 1969. Collected by Paul Apple.
#121 “Son, I'm Sorry For Anything I May Have Done,” Joseph M. Queenan
(adapted by Rev. David Holwick), Newsweek, August 31, 1987, p. 7.
#821 “The Wickedest People,” Rev. Leonard J. Vander Zee, from Kerux
Sermon #22907, April 21, 1989.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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