Psalm 51, we'll be reading verses 14 and 15.
Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the
God of my salvation. Then my tongue will joyfully
sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips,
that my mouth may declare your praise. the end
of Psalm 51. Over the next several weeks, I think
it's appropriate to just think and review a bit
about why we continue to hunker down in this
psalm. Some of you have been sitting here listening
to Psalm 51 for all these weeks, and you hear
it and you think, I don't know. of what this
says. I don't have the experience that David
has in my heart. I don't know what sorrow and
grief and mourning over my sin is like. I don't
know what this terrible struggle in my heart
is like. Some of us don't know what it's like
to cry out to God to help us. Because of our
own sinfulness. And the reason you don't is because
you don't have the Spirit of God dwelling within
you. You are not in possession of these realities
in your very soul. God has not given them to
you in your soul. So take note of the reality
that you are missing these things in your heart.
That you need these things. Let the absence of
these realities drive you to Christ and to take
refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ, where these
can become realities in your soul. I think there's
another group that would think, and I've had
to answer in my own head, my own heart, as we
continue to study this. Why do we continue to
spend time in this penitential song? Why do we
continue to talk about repentance week in and
week out? Why do we keep talking about forsaking
sin and confessing sin? Why do we keep talking
about week after week about dealing with sin
in our lives? Why is this so relevant to our
hearts? Why does he keep focusing on this? Why
do we need to keep learning about repentance
and faith in our lives? Can't we move on to something
different? Brothers and sisters, we have to continue
focusing on faith and repentance because you
continue to sin. Because I continue to sin in
my life. I continue to desperately need the Lord
Jesus Christ to sanctify me just as you do. Therefore,
we need to continue learning about these things.
So don't brush it off. Lay into it. Lean into
the word of God and let it affect you. Let it
change you. Let it sanctify you. Receive it in
your hearts, in your mind, in your souls. Let
God work in your soul as he so desires to. Open
up your heart that he might have free access
to every single area, every single recess, every
single part, every single thought. That you might
be transformed. That you might come to love the
Lord Jesus Christ more and more and more. So
today, as we continue in Psalm 51 and verses
14 and 15, we're looking at three things in David's
psalm of repentance. We're going to look at the
dilemma he is facing. We're going to look at
the solution he is seeking. And we're going to
look at the result. he longs for. First, the
dilemma he is facing. David, in verses 14 and
15, has a dilemma that he's dealing with, doesn't
he? He is facing a difficult reality in his life.
He cannot worship and praise God as he ought
to. He wants to open his mouth and praise God.
He wants to gladly sing of God's righteousness.
He wants to declare God's works and God's righteousness
to him. But he can't. You see, it's an issue
of worship in his life. He can't do it. Why?
What's the issue? He can't worship because of
guilt in his conscience, in his heart, in his
life, because of his sin. He wants to worship
God rightly. He longs to worship Christ truly.
He longs to praise him and declare his righteous
works, but he can't in his current state, in
his current condition. There are several reasons
for this. The primary being, Blood guilt. The
text reads, deliver me from blood guiltiness.
Now why does David feel guilt in his conscience?
And why does it refer to blood guiltiness? Think
about David's sin and the events that transpired
over that time. What blood is David... Guilty
of shedding. What is the guilt on his conscience
as a result of his sin and his transgression?
Well, he's guilty of much blood in his life.
There's rightful guilt on his conscience. Uriah,
the husband of Bathsheba, the woman he took.
and committed an affair with? The woman he committed
adultery with, he killed her husband? Had him
murdered? What about the blood of his son that
went to the grave as a result of David's sin?
David's guilty for Uriah and his blood. David's
guilty for the blood of his son. What about all
those that would die in his household after him
because he broke his covenant with God? There's
a great deal of guilt rightfully and justifiably
on David's conscience as a result of his actions,
and it is debilitating on his worship of God.
Has anybody ever experienced this? You come to
church on the Lord's Day, but you don't want
to worship God. Am I the only one that's ever
experienced that? You come to church on the Lord's
Day, and you don't want to sing praises to God.
You don't want to give Him what is rightfully
His. Because... There's guilt on your conscience
because of an action that you have committed
that is sinful in the sight of that holy God.
Brothers and sisters, it's a very real dilemma
that you and I will continue to struggle with,
that you and I will continue to face, that David
deals with right here. And that's not even the
biggest issue of this. The biggest issue of all
of this in David's life is not that he has guilt
on his conscience. It's not that he can't worship
God. The biggest issue is that God is always
rightfully owed worship. The biggest issue is
that God is always worthy of being exalted. So
what does sin and guilt do? With regards to God's
worship, what's it doing in David's life? It's
robbing God of his worship. The guilt on David's
conscience is prohibiting him, is hindering him.
It is acting as a stumbling block to his worship,
which is due the glory is holy and good name
of God. God doesn't get his worship. Because
David and his guilt. God is always worthy to
be praised. Regardless of our sin. Our choices.
Our desires and our longings. Regardless of how
we feel today or tomorrow. That does not change
the fact that God is worthy to be exalted and
praised and worshipped and glorified. He remains
worthy, regardless of our sin and our choices.
So David's guilt and David's sin is keeping him
from worshiping God as he ought to. It's keeping
him from giving God the praise and honor and
worship that is due his name rightfully. What
is it that's keeping you from worshiping God
as you ought to today? What is it today that
is in your heart that you are unwilling to deal
with, that you are unwilling to let go of, that
you are unwilling to give up, that's keeping
your worship from God's glory? Is it pride? Is
it arrogance? Is it self -righteousness? Is it
wealth? What is stealing away your heart from
God so that you aren't worshiping him as you
ought to? Is it immorality? Is it vanity? Is
it how you look and how you appear and it's an
idol in your life? Is it envy and covetousness?
Are you envying somebody's house? Are you envying
somebody's husband, somebody's wife, somebody's
situation, and you continue to deal with that
and you refuse to give it up? Is it the worry
and concern of the world, brothers and sisters?
Is it pulling your mind and your heart and your
longings? Are your affections set on things in
this life, in this world? In constraining and
restricting your worship of God? Maybe it's the
fact that you know you need to repent of sin,
but you won't repent of sin because you don't
want to appear as though you're a sinner. You
know in the back of your head and you know in
your heart you have to deal with this sin, but
you won't because you want to appear wise. You
want to appear holy. You want to come off a certain
way. Maybe it's the fact that you say everything's
okay, but your marriage is in shambles. Maybe
it's the fact that you come to church every day
or every Sunday. You sing with your mouth, but
you don't love your wife. Maybe it's the fact
that you idolize your children. Maybe it's pornography.
Brothers and sisters, the list goes on and on
and on. What is keeping you from worshiping God
as you ought to be worshiping God? What is robbing
God of his glory in your life because you won't
let go of it? If this remains undealt with in
your life, You will not worship God as he ought
to be worshipped. If you do not repent of your
sin that you are dealing with in your life, if
you refuse to deal with your sin, you won't praise
him as he ought to be praised. And he is worthy
to be praised. He remains worthy to be praised.
Christ's name is meant to be exalted regardless
of what you're dealing with in your life. This
is David's dilemma. This is our dilemma. This
leads us to the solution he is seeking. Secondly,
how does David seek to solve this dilemma? The
solution is two parts really. The first being
God's part. David cries out, deliver me from...
blood, guiltiness. O God, the God of my salvation,
then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness.
It has to do with God's deliverance of David
from this guilt in his conscience and the sin
in his life. It has to do with the pardoning
of his sins and the cleansing of his conscience
from those sins. David knows that he will never
have a cleansed and purified conscience unless
God forgives his sins. You see, David understands
that he doesn't just need God's pardoning grace,
he needs God's Purifying and cleansing grace
on his conscience. But this also means that a
cleansed conscience is a token sign of God's
pardoning grace in our life. Meaning, if you
have a clean conscience according to the word
of God, then you can rest. And have assurance
of the fact and the reality that God has in fact
answered your prayer and forgiven your sins.
But brothers and sisters, if your conscience
remains unclean and defiled, if your conscience
is still condemning you and convicting you over
and over and over, then consider your repentance.
Was it genuine? Was it sincere? Have you really
dealt with the sin in your life if your conscience
is still condemning you? David knows this. David
knows that if God will pardon his sins and restore
him and renew him, that his conscience will be
cleansed and purified from those sins. The actual
guilt from those sins will be... Removed. Now
this is powerful if we think about it. The fact
that God pardons and purifies his people in an
ongoing and perpetual manner when they repent
and that he will do so when they confess their
sins. But it's also important to understand that
just because God pardons our sins, and God purifies
our consciences, we can't undo the actions that
were carried out in those sins that brought about
that guilt. David's sin can be forgiven. David's
guilt can be cleansed and washed away. by the
blood of Christ. But that doesn't mean that Uriah
will be brought back. That doesn't mean his son
will come back from the grave. That doesn't mean
that all those who would die would not die now.
The consequences for his sin remain, even if
the guilt and the sin is removed. It's meant
to be an exhortation and a warning, brothers
and sisters, that we should heed. If you sin,
Jesus Christ has accomplished the work for your
sins to be forgiven. They can be pardoned by
the blood of Christ. Your guilt can be removed
and taken away, but that does not mean there
won't be consequences for your sin. It doesn't
mean that things won't come about in your life
as a result of your bad choice. Because of your
transgression and your iniquity. Yes, God will
use it for the good of his people, but there
will be consequences. It's meant to be a deterrent
for you to sin and to stir you up. Unto holiness.
Consider the reality. That yes our guilt can
be washed away. It can be cleansed. Yes our sins
can be pardoned. And they can be forgiven. But
there are real actual consequences. For sinning
in this world. That God has made. And they will
follow and proceed. Now I said. A moment ago.
That it's very powerful. If we think about the
reality. That Christ. Sacrifice is sufficient
to cover our sins, to pardon us and to purify
us. It's incredible to think about the reality
of the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice and
his death. Here is David, an adulterer. Here
is David, a murderer. But here is David. The
man who can be forgiven. The man whose conscience
can be cleansed. If he'll but repent. There's
no sin in your life. There's no iniquity. There's
no transgression that is so great that the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ is not sufficient to pardon it.
Do you understand that? As a believer in Jesus
Christ, all your sins are forgiven. As a believer
in Jesus Christ, his grace is sufficient to cover
all your sins and to purify you in your conscience
of that guilt. Do you know that, brothers and
sisters? Have you murdered somebody? Have you
committed adultery? Is your sin, your iniquity,
and your transgression worse than David's? No.
Brothers and sisters, in Jesus Christ, there
is absolute sufficiency for the forgiveness of
sins and the cleansing of the conscience. This
is for those in Christ, and this is true of those
outside of Christ, if they will but come to Christ
in repentance and faith. There is no sin so great
that his blood won't save you from it. There's
no wickedness so... that his blood is not so
precious that it will wash all that iniquity
away. That it will cleanse you of your sinful
deeds and your dead works and your conscience.
That's how great and mighty and excellent and
beautiful and powerful his blood and his sacrifice
is. If you'll but trust in that sacrifice. This
is what God does. In Christ. This is what God
does in the work of Jesus Christ. He forgives
sin and he purifies the conscience of that sin.
For believers, this still means that we must
believe in that good work. Yes, God cleanses
the conscience. Yes. God pardons sin, but you
have to believe it. You have to trust in it.
This is David's part in it. This is David's part
of the solution. Faith and trust in the promise
of God and the forgiveness of sins following
genuine repentance. David believed. that his
sins would be forgiven. He was believing this
reality. He believed that he would worship God
rightly and truly. He believed that he would
praise God as he ought to do so. This is a glorious
promise of the gospel. We read in 1 John 1, 9,
which we've read multiple times in this series.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Brothers and sisters, God
is always, always willing to forgive your sins.
God is always ready, eager, And willing to cleanse
your conscience of guilt. He is always ready
to remove the shame from your conscience and
from your heart. If we will but confess our sins
to him. He's not slow in forgiving us our sins,
is he? He's not slow in cleansing the conscience.
But brothers and sisters, we. We are slow in
going to Him in repentance and faith. We drag
our feet in going to the throne and giving up
our sin. It's not Him. He will forgive your sins.
And He will continue to forgive your sins. For
those in Jesus Christ, There is an innumerable
degree and amount of forgiveness for those in
Christ. Again, because of the sufficiency of
Jesus Christ in his work. He will continue to
forgive. He will keep forgiving. But brothers
and sisters, we must keep believing. We must
keep repenting. It's a glorious promise of the
gospel that God is always willing to forgive
and to cleanse, and we must be always willing
to repent and believe in that glorious promise
of the gospel. This is the solution David is
seeking, and we saw God's part in the solution.
his deliverance from guilt and shame, his forgiveness,
his pardoning grace, and his purifying grace.
And we see David's part, faith in God's promise
to forgive his sin following genuine repentance.
This leads us thirdly and lastly to the result
that David so longs for. What does David want
to come about as a result? of this solution to
his dilemma? Well, he wants to be able to worship
God rightly, doesn't he? He longs to praise God
as he ought to praise God. He wants to be able
to open his mouth and praise God. David wants
to be able to gladly sing. and joyfully and happily
sing of God's righteousness towards him. This
is why he says, Then my tongue will joyfully
sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips
that my mouth may declare your praise. He wants
to both be enabled to praise God and he wants
to be able to do so rightfully out of grace and
the experience of the forgiveness of sins. He
would have it, and he desires and he longs to
worship and praise God from the experience of
grace in his life. He wants to worship God from
a place of being forgiven by his sins. But he
also wants to worship God freely, without the
constraint of guilt on his conscience. He wants
to be able. to praise God without the binding
of a guilty conscience upon him. Both of these
necessitate faith and repentance. Both. Let me
offer you three applications for these. We've
seen the dilemma, the solution, and the result.
We've already made several applications, but
let me offer you a few. The first is this. Beware
of the form of worship. Or we could say beware
of a form of worship. David very well could have,
we don't want to assume, He very well could have
continued to open his mouth and sing and praise
God while clinging to sin in his life. Now, if
David would have done this, it certainly would
have been a form of worship. He would have been
making noise. He would have been using words.
He would have been using mouth. But there would
not have been any substance whatsoever to his
worship. It's the idea that a person walks in
to worship God on a Sunday morning. They're wearing
their normal clothes. They sing. They pray. They
worship. They sing loudly. Everybody can see.
Everybody watches. Everybody hears. But underneath
their clothes, they have little idols taped to
their body. They're worshiping God while clinging
to idols on them. They're bringing idols into
the worship of God. Are they really worshiping
God if their idols remain? Will God accept that
worship? Will God be pleased with that worship?
Or does that individual need to take those idols
out and crush them, cut off their arms, cut off
their feet, and cut off their head and let it
fall over on the threshing floor? Beware of a
form of worship. Do not simply use your mouth
to make noise when your heart is far, far away.
From Christ. If there is sin in your life. And
you are not willing to give it up. Then you are
doing something. But it is not worshiping. If
you have conscious. Willing sin. In your heart
and your mind. And you are singing and making
noise. And you are praising God. You are doing
something. But it is not worshiping the Holy
God. In truth and spirit. Crush the idol. Then
worship God. Deal with the sin, then sing praises.
The idea is not to keep you from worship. The
idea is to get you to deal with the sin so that
you truly can worship. So beware of a form of
worship. Secondly, be exhorted to prepare your
hearts for worship. All of this... teaches us
that we need to be cautious of our own hearts,
doesn't it, brothers and sisters? Have you ever
considered your relationship with sin to the
worship of God? Have you ever considered how
your sin affects the worship of God, your worship
of God? Of all things in this life, of all things,
we ought to spend time thinking, praying, considering,
examining our hearts to see if there are idols
in them, if we are clinging to things before
we seek to worship a holy and a sovereign and
a good God. Take time before the worship of God
to examine your hearts. Think about Saturday
night. What do I need to deal with from this
previous week in my heart so that I can worship
God rightly tomorrow? Get rid of the idols before
you come into his glorious presence. Examine.
And be exhorted to prepare your hearts for worship.
He's always worthy of our praise and our honor.
He's always worthy of it. Be sure of your worship
this morning. As I was working on this message,
my heart longed to worship the way that David
desires to worship. My heart longs to experience
the worship that he desired where my mouth freely
worships God without the hindrance of sin. Free
of guilt. Brothers and sisters, we can possess
that which he desired. You can possess that which
David so longed for if you'll but deal with your
sin this morning. Do you understand that? That
you can be free in your heart to worship God
from guilt in your conscience this morning. This
next song, you can sing like you've never sung
before if you'll just deal with the sin in your
heart right now. You can praise God as you never
have if you'll search your hearts and you'll
deal with your hearts and you'll deal with the
iniquity and the corruption that is running wild
in them. You can be sure that your worship is
true and sincere and heartfelt and you can be
free of your guilt. If you will go to God now
and you will pray to him and you will repent
of your sin and trust in the blessed promise
that he will forgive your sins. That can be a
reality in your heart and your soul now. You
don't have to wait till tomorrow to deal with
your sin. You don't have to wait till you go
home to repent of sin in your life. You don't
have to wait to get right in your fellowship
with God, brothers and sisters. You don't need
to push it off. Do it now. Repentance is not
a physical act where we get up and go and do
something. Repentance is dealing with God in
prayer. It's a spiritual act, a spiritual motion.
Go to him now. Deal with your heart and give
him the worship and give him the praise that
he is due. We can all experience that. Don't
be slow in going to God for the forgiveness of
sins. Brothers and sisters, he's eager. He's
willing. He's ready to forgive you right now.
He's eager, he's ready, he's willing to cleanse
your conscience of guilt, to give purity in your
heart, to renew you, to restore you right now.
If you will go to him. If you will believe his
promise that he will forgive your sins.