INTRO.- ILL.- Sometimes women are overly suspicious of their husbands. When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset. "You’re running around with other women," she charged. "You’re being unreasonable," Adam responded. "You’re the only woman on earth." The quarrel continued until Adam fell asleep, only to be awakened by someone poking him in the chest.
It was Eve. "What do you think you’re doing?" Adam demanded. "Counting your ribs," said Eve.
No, Adam apparently didn’t run around on Eve but David did commit adultery with Bathsheba. And this Psalm is what David prayed after everything was said and done and after he had repented. In fact, this IS his prayer of repentance. This is one of the most honest and open-hearted passages in the Bible. David opens up his heart before God and holds nothing back. And it’s a prayer that all people should pray! Why? Because we’re all guilty of sin, maybe not his sin, but we are guilty of sin.
ILL.- C. S. Lewis: "If you look upon ham and eggs with lust, you have already committed breakfast in your heart." David’s sin started in his mind and eyes.
Matthew 5:28 “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
ILL.- A man sobering up from the night before is sitting through the Sunday sermon, finding it long and boring. Still feeling hung over and tired, he finally nods off. The preacher has been watching him all along, noticing his apparent hangover and is disgusted. At the end of the sermon, the preacher decides to make an example of him. He says to his congregation, "All those wishing to have a place in heaven, please stand." The whole room stands up except, of course, the sleeping man.
Then the preacher says even more loudly, "And he who would like to find a place in hell please STAND UP!" The weary man catching only the last part stands up, only to find that he’s the only one standing. Confused and embarrassed he says, "I don’t know what we’re voting on here, but it sure seems like you and me are the only ones standing for it!"
I don’t know of anyone in their right mind who would want to go hell if they knew what was there. And sin is the very thing that will send people to hell. Our only hope is in the Lord and He has plainly to told us that we need to do something about our sin.
Luke 13:3 “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Repentance may be a bitter pill to swallow but later it will yield a peace-filled life!
ILL.- Preacher John Charles Ryle of England wrote: “Sin is the mother of all sorrow, and no sort of sin appears to give a man so much misery and pain as the sins of his youth. The foolish acts he did - the time he wasted - the mistakes he made - the bad company he kept - the harm he did himself, both body and soul....all these are things that often embitter the conscience of an old man, throw a gloom on the evening of his days, and fill the later hours of his life with self-reproach and shame.”
ILL.- C. S. Lewis: "Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms."
We all are rebels who need to lay down our arms and surrender to God and Christ. And Christ is our approach to God.
PROP.- David’s prayer of repentance after he committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1- A prayer of confession
2- A prayer of concession
3- A prayer of cleansing
4- A prayer of commitment
I. A PRAYER OF CONFESSION
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
This confession was more of a testimony about who God is than anything else. O God, you are merciful and compassionate.
ILL.- Lincoln Steffens once wrote a magazine article based on an interview with Mark Fagan, who was at the time mayor of Jersey City. N. J. Steffens asked Fagan several searching questions—how he stood up against corruption and graft, how he withstood the temptations of offered bribes, how he was able to face the opposition of those who ridiculed and smeared him. Fagan’s one answer to most of the questions was simply, “I have a way.”
Finally, Steffens got Fagan to tell what his “way” was. His answer was very simple. He pointed to a picture of Christ on the wall of his office and, referring to John 14:6, said, “He is the way.”
And not only it is true that Christ is the way to God the Father, He is also our way to forgiveness for our sins and to overcome temptation.
Have mercy on me, O God. Where have we heard these words before or have we?
Luke 18:9-14 “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
God, have mercy on me a sinner. This is similar to what David prayed. And it’s a prayer that all of us need to pray and perhaps every day. Have you prayed this pray today? Will you pray it every day? I would suggest you do this if you wish to be justified before God. You have to go down before you can ever go up! You have to fall down before God before He can ever lift you up.
Ephesians 2:4-5 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved.”
Our God is rich in mercy and it’s a very good thing or else none of us could be saved. David is confessing or giving a testimony about God.
Have mercy on me, O God. “Your compassion is great so please blot out my sins. Wash them away. Cleanse me.” These are all prayers we can pray and should.
II. A PRAYER OF OF CONCESSION
(acknowledgment or admission of being a sinner)
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
ILL.- A little nine year old girl was in church with her mother when she started feeling ill. "Mommy" she said "Can we leave now?" "No" her mother replied. "Well, I think I have to throw up!" "Then go out the front door and around to the back of the church and throw up behind a bush." In about two minutes the little girl returned to her seat.
"Did you throw up?" her mother asked. "Yes" the little girl replied. "Well, how could you have gone all the way to the back of the church and return so quickly?" "I didn’t have to go out of the church, Mommy" the little girl replied, "They have a box next to the front door that says ’for the sick’."
The church is for sick people, sin-sick people. And all of us need to recognize and acknowledge our sin-sickness.
Jesus said, “I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:32. We all need to recognize our sinfulness and confess it to God. If we’re too proud to pray and confess our sinfulness then we’re too proud to get into heaven. There is no place for pride in the kingdom of heaven. In fact, it is pride that got the devil kicked out of heaven so why in the world would we ever think we could be prideful in any way and get into heaven?
ILL.- While none of us would be as bold as the once-famous heavyweight boxing champ, Muhammad Ali, and say, “I am the greatest. I am the king! we might well think too highly of ourselves. We might think, “Look at what I’ve done in life. Look at the money I’ve made. Look at the house I live in. I did this. I made this happen,” etc.
- D. L. Moody said: "God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves."
- Moody: “If we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and self-seeking and pleasure and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God, and I believe many a man is praying to God to fill him when he is full already with something else.”
- C. S. Lewis: “According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride.”
Proverbs 8:13 “I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”
Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
I Peter 5:5 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” We all need to humble ourselves, admit that we have sinned greatly in the eyes of God, and confess that He is merciful and gracious, asking for mercy and grace.
III. A PRAYER OF CLEANSING
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
ILL.- When I was a baby mama would wash us kids in a metal tub. Later when Dad built a bathroom onto our old house at 302 Forest St. in Webb City, MO, he put in a tub and a shower. I didn’t mind getting dirty, playing outside, but I sure liked getting clean in that shower! It was a little bit of heaven on earth and it still is! I PREFER BEING CLEAN, DON’T YOU?
I also love the fact that I’ve been cleansed by God. That is especially nice, knowing that all is well with God. I’ve made peace with Him through the Lord Jesus and He’s cleansed me from my sins and it’s like I don’t have any sins. And it’s all because of Jesus.
II Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
God, the Father, made Jesus dirty and sinful for me. And in exchange, He made me righteous. What a deal! It’s almost unbelievable but we must believe it! Therein lies our salvation. We trust in Jesus to bear our sins in His body on the tree.
David prayed, “Cleanse me, wash me, create in me a pure heart.” What a prayer of cleansing! And we all need to pray that prayer. “Cleanse me, Father, from all my sins and even those sins that I am not aware of.” We all have “unaware” sins.
How are we cleansed by God? WE ASK. We ask for cleansing.
I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” We need to believe God. We need to believe His Word. We need to trust God for forgiveness.
ILL.- I heard a story many years ago about a lady who confessed to her preacher that many years earlier she had committed adultery. He asked, “Is this the first time you’ve confessed this sin?” She said, “Oh no, I’ve confessed it every night for the last six years.” He said, “What made you decide that God is a liar? Your sin is not adultery. Your sin is unbelief. You don’t believe God’s Word.”
She wasn’t trusting God for her forgiveness, which is a problem many of us have. We need to confess that we are sinners. We need to confess our sin and ask for forgiveness and then get on with life.
At the same time, we should also for God to restore our joy and create purity and holiness in us. Create in me a pure heart. Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
ILL.- Elaine and I just went to my 50th high school class reunion. I was amazed at how old those people are! Truthfully, we’re fading away physically whether we want to admit or not. But our eternal spirit doesn’t have to fade away, in fact, we can be renewed every day.
II Corinthians 4:16-17 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."
Perhaps you need to pray, “Lord, restore to me the joy of your salvation.” “Fill me with joy and the Holy Spirit.” The restoration of joy is the result of being cleansed.
IV. A PRAYER OF COMMITMENT
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
Following confession, concession, and cleansing there should be commitment. We should become committed to the Lord as never before. “Then I will teach transgressors your ways.” For us, this means a new commitment to the Lord to point people to the Lord.
ILL.- Augustine wrote: "The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works."
When sin and evil leave our lives then we should fill our lives with good stuff and that means serving the Lord: witnessing, teaching, preaching, serving, doing good, etc.
ILL.- Recently I was talking to the assistant manage of Kinkos here in Jonesboro. He is a man about 43 years old but his parents are about 83-84 years old. He is the baby of the family. His folks raised him in a gospel church. And his mother is a strong Christian and not afraid to speak for Christ.
Some time ago her younger brother who is in 70‘s lost his wife and he sort of went off the deep end and started to carouse, drink, etc. His older sister wasn’t afraid to tell him in no uncertain terms that he needed to get his life straightened out considering eternity is around the corner.
We all need something of that kind of faith, a faith that is not fearful when it comes to witnessing to others. We all need to be more committed to pointing others to Christ and to the church.
I Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
We need to always look for opportunities to testify or witness for Christ and His kingdom and this will happen when we sincerely repent and confess our sins to God.
CONCLUSION-----------------
Martin Luther wrote: "Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want."
C. S. Lewis: "We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin."
Time is not the answer to sin. Christ is the answer to all sin. We must seek Him and seek His mercy, asking for mercy,forgiveness, cleansing, renewal, and restoration. But once we do this we’d better be serious about living for Christ and pointing others to Him. Sin kills but Christ gives the abundant life and the promise of eternal life. WHICH SHALL IT BE?
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
