Sermon 060909: for it’s when we have been restored, we can bring others to the Lord; Psalm 51.
In life there are times and reasons why we don’t believe God would want to have anything to do with us, I’ve even been told by people that, "I’m that bad that God wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me."
Today I’m going to speak about a man that fell out of favour with God
This man wrote a good number of the Psalms, he was the second king of Israel and a human ancestor of Jesus Christ. Yes King David, King David was a criminal.
Now that I have told you that can I give the evidence against him?
It was spring time, now this was when Kings went out to battle, in fact it wasn’t just kings, and it was the blokes who did the fighting for them also.
Now David had been fairly busy, prior to this spring he had defeated the Philistines, Moabites, Zobahites, Syrians, Edomites, and Ammonites. So he stayed home, while he was up on his roof, for that is were kings spend time some there time surveying their kingdoms, he spied a beautiful woman bathing, her name was Bathsheba.
Being the King and liking what he saw he enquired after her, the reply was in short, “she’s Uriah the Hittite’s wife.” Uriah was off at war at the time.
To cut to the chase, it was spring time and Kings it seems have a lot of sway, she ended up pregnant to King David. On hearing this David not wanting scandal decided to get Uriah back from battle so that he would go home to Mrs Uriah, and cunning plan, David would be off the hook.
Uriah though was a loyal bloke and decided that he didn’t deserve the comforts and affections of home while the king’s men were camped in a field. Well what to do?
David came up with another cunning plan, Uriah was off back to war and David told his commander to put Uriah in the thick of the fighting and leave him defenceless. Uriah was killed! David added murder to his adultery.
Then he married Bathsheba. Yip King David was a criminal, “an adulterer and a murder.”
Things went along nicely for about a year. Then Nathan the prophet put King David right on the situation with a parable about a lamb. (Fleur to read from the Message paraphrase)
As a result King David was over come with guilt and there were consequences of his sin, but also forgiveness. I think its well worth reading the rest of this story if you are keen it’s in 2nd Samuel chapters 11 and 12.
David knowing his distance from the will of God cried out to God; this is recorded in Psalm 51. This is a series of three prayers for restoration – these are recorded as a poem.
About the poem, Hebrew poetry is not like our poems, it does not often rhyme. It often utilises parallelism, comparing one verse with the next and in this case a lament a prayer of personal struggle which as we know has for us a positive personal outcome.
The positive personal outcome occurred because of the way David went about praying. So what did David do?
1) David knew God, he was genuine about his need to repent of his sin, so he appealed, That’s right he appealed to God, to God to wash him clean of his sin, in doing so he acknowledged his terrible actions.
In verse three he says “I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me. “
I don’t know about you but I guess he was in that place where his actions had been on his mind, like the quilt of gossip over tea cups about old so and so, the unauthorised extended lunch breaks on company time, the webb site you stumbled across and lingered a bit long over, the music down load that’s a bit unhealthy, But in David’s case all of his guilt must have been more intense than these things rolled together, the guilt must have been incredible.
The joy must have been sucked out of his life.
2) In the following verses he continues his pleading to God, he acknowledged his wrong. That’s right he acknowledged his wrong doing. “I’ve sinned, and done evil in your sight, I was sinful at birth, sinful from conception” (paraphrased). So King David is certainly feeling his guilt. He was guilty and had sinned against the Lord. He had acted in a way which was depraved.
3) King David realised that God desired king David to be cleansed, not an external cleansing but cleaning within. This is what God desires; let’s look at what David says. “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inner most place.” (Verse 6)
Jesus himself said this to the Pharisees, “Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean. (Matthew 23: 25-26)
What David realised that God was not overly interested in outward appearances, the truth of the matter is outward appearances can be deceiving. Bank robbers wear suits, When we brush our hair, clean our teeth, put on makeup, ite our flashest tie, we can also be jolly messy on the inside. Some get made up and head out for an evening with definite wrong intent. What David realised was, internally he was a mess.
As I heard a preacher once say “he was full of stinking thinking and needed a check up from the neck up.”
God knows our inner being and wants to be able to teach us all, wisdom.
Then we can be restored. This is where King David was he’d blown it, he’d had a man murdered and other despicable things, the adultery the lies of the cover up. He was a mess, However he came before God and realised that it was God that was pointing out to him his need to return to God (repeat), then and only then could he be restored.
But restored to what?
4) To the right relationship he had with God. I guess that you have all heard the saying “if you feel distant from God guess who’s moved?” (pause) That’s right not God.
King David’s plea is in verse seven was “Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” King David needed cleansing from his sins and he knew it. He wasn’t messing about he wanted this issue sorted he knew in all his Kingly finery that the robes, the jewels, the latest hair cut, the top model chariot with the latest in flashing wheel blades and all the gold in the treasury meant nothing if his relationship with God was a mess.
He was plan out right miserable, “Let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones you have crushed rejoice.” King David wanted joy back in his life and this could only be done through being restored to a right relationship with God.
In verse ten King David cries out for a pure heart, that God would create in him a pure heart, for him this would be something new and that his spirit be renewed to its old steadfast state. He was not mincing words; this prayer flies straight as an arrow. He knew he needed forgiveness, he knew that God would forgive him if he was genuine about his wrong doing. This psalm is a heart felt plea.
Let’s read his concern in verse eleven “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.”
King David would have known that the special relationship he had with God through his Holy Spirit was what got him to the throne of Israel and what kept him on the throne. Remember this was a man who had risen from Shepard boy to the slayer of giants and nations because God was with him.
We all need to have God regenerate us, to restore us when we sin.
As an aside it really interests me that in life we look at things and say to yourselves, now I am speaking from personal experience: I remember saying this very clearly as a young man “Well God I’m pleased that I have Jesus in my life but I’d like to try it on my own before I really give my whole life over, and this was even after publicly declaring Jesus as my Lord and saviour.
How thick I was, you see even Kings who have walked with God realise that they can’t go it alone, great men realise they can’t go it alone, but here was young, ever so wise and sensible Andrew, as bold as brass telling the creator of the universe that, I’d be right. Let me tell you in retrospect, this was just plan stupid.
I’m pleased I came to my senses.
King David this fallen worried man knew it, he came to his senses, we hear him say and I’m paraphrasing this; “when you have restored me to the joy of your salvation, and given me a willing spirit that sustains me, then I will teach others who have blown it, yes I will teach them your ways and then they will turn back to you.”
And he did and they do, people continue to turn to the Lord, when they hear of his forgiveness.
You see when we ourselves have experienced restoration, when we know what it is to have our sins removed as far is the east is from the west (psalm 103:12), and remembered no more by God, then we will want to tell others of his love.
For it’s when we have been restored, we can bring others to the Lord. (SBI)
Jesus said these words “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
That inner peace that King David sought, Jesus can give to us through the Holy Spirit. We can be restored.
Restoration is available; new life in God through the sacrifice of Jesus is available all that is required is for us to ask for that restoration.
There is a place here of restoration, where we can come before God and accept his forgiveness, where we can come and celebrate the joy of being forgiven, where broken people can come to know restoration.
(Response)
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