At the Movies. Redemption
Psalms 51
1. Redemption begins with genuine confession. vv.1-5
2. Redemption requires that we recognize our need and by faith call out for mercy. vv.6-9
3. Redemption begins to restore healing and hope. vv:10-13
One of the great stories of all time is the story we know as Les Miserables. In this classic by Victor Hugo, written in 1862, the main character is Jean Valjean. The story opens with Jean Valjean in prison for 19 years: 5 for stealing a loaf of bread because his sister and nephew was dying of starvation; the other 14 years for attempts to escape. Finally he is given his parole paper by his arch nemesis, Javert, who in the movie is played by Russell Crowe, certainly the worst miscast in the history of movies.
Even though he’s out of prison, because of that yellow sheet of parole paper, no one will give him work, no one will feed him, no one will shelter him. He ends up at the door of a bishop who gives him food and shelter. But Valjean is still a thief, and he steals the silver bowls and utensils of the bishop and sneaks out. But he is caught trying to sell a piece of the silver and dragged back to the bishop’s house. He expected the bishop to confirm the thievery, but instead the bishop looks at the policemen, grabs two silver candlesticks and says to Valjean: “My friend, you forgot the best: take these”. This act of mercy in the face of obvious guilt redeemed and changed Jean Valjean’s life.
Turn to Psalm 51. We continue our series using popular movies to illustrate key biblical themes. And the theme for this morning is redemption. And there are few texts in the Bible that demonstrate the power of mercy and redemption like this one.
You might know the story. It’s told in the book of 2nd Samuel 11. The great king David sitting on his back patio smoking a stogie and sipping his favorite beverage and he notices a hot young thing bathing across the way. If you go to Israel with me in 2020, you’ll see where the king’s palace was and look across the little valley called Kidron where Bathsheba would have been living.
He sends someone to find out who this beauty is and finds out two things: Her name is Bathsheba and he finds out she’s married to a guy named Uriah. I’ll save you the sordid details—if you’re interested in full drama, read 2 Samuel 11. Bottom line is that David sleeps with her, gets her pregnant, then tries to get the husband to come back from the front lines of the battle to sleep with her so that Uriah and everyone else would think it was his child. But Uriah obeys his king and comes back, but he refuses to sleep with his wife as long as his band of brothers is fighting a war. Ultimately, David has Uriah killed to protect his secret.
But there are no secrets kept from an all-knowing God. And so Yahweh sends His prophet Nathan to David to confront him. Let’s pick up this closing scene in 2 Samuel 12:1-14
You read this and it is better than any soap opera or trashy romantic novel. You might be thinking, how could the Great King David, they guy who wrote the 23rd Psalm; the guy who God said “There is a man after my own heart”; how could he do this?
Two thoughts: 1st: David did it out of his broken and sinful nature. That’s how. The 2nd thought is: I don’t have any stones to throw. Neither do you. Are you there with me? I am so freakin broken so that my words and actions are absolutely antithetical to what I know and desire I should be.
So what do we do when we fall so woefully short of what we desire and what God commands us to be? We ask for God’s redemption!
The answer is found in Psalm 51. Let’s stand and read together Psalm 51:1-13
Redemption—everyone loves stories of redemption. When you look at the great stories and the great movies, they all have redemption as a major theme. Gone with the Wind. To Kill a Mockingbird. The 19 Rocky movies. All the Superhero movies from Thor to Spiderman—they all have characters who were counted down and out but they survived and overcame.
You can’t get much lower than where David found himself. And yet, in this Psalm we see his redemption. We all long for redemption; it is a universal quest of humanity to experience redemption. But not everyone knows how to experience genuine redemption. This Psalm gives us some key insights:
1. Redemption begins with genuine confession. vv.1-5
Notice the personal pronouns as I read these verses:
v.1 I need mercy and grace, not based on my actions but on your love
v.2 wash away MY guilt; cleanse me from MY sin
v.3. I am conscious of MY rebellion and MY sin is ever before me
v.4 I have sinned and done this evil in your sight
you are right when you pass judgment on me
v.5. I’ve been broken and sinful from the beginning.
David confesses to God that he is the problem. He doesn’t try to blame it on anyone else. He doesn’t try to make excuses. He takes personal responsibility for his actions.
Normally, what’s our first reaction with being confronted with a mistake or a weakness we have? We deny. We deflect. We react. We blame. But that doesn’t EVER work; it doesn’t fix anything. It doesn’t move us forward.
2. Redemption requires that we recognize our need and by faith call out for mercy. vv.6-9
Purpose of law, Sermon on the mount: I can’t measure up! I need mercy
def of mercy
Here’s what I deserve: judgment and wrath
But God, who is rich in mercy…
Requires faith that God will act on His promises.
3. Redemption begins to restore healing and hope. vv:10-13
Need a story
What’s interesting is this process of redemption is the same for those who are believers and those who are not yet believers. If you have never surrendered your life to Christ and placed your faith in Him alone to save you, you need God’s mercy and redemption. It is provided through Jesus and what He did on the cross…. Confess—call out for mercy—believe in His provision and promise: Jesus and redemption. (Invitation (track)
If you have surrendered and put your faith in Christ but you need a turnaround in your life, then you need to stop making excuses, accept the truth about yourself, and take God at His word that ‘greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”
There’s a powerful scene in Les Mis where Jean Valjean decides that his imprisonment, and all the anger and anguish of his past is not going to determine his future. And if you know the story, it is the turning point of his life.
(Les Mis scene 3 begin with 1:38 to end) (band comes out)
Parole papers: write at least 2-3 areas of your life that you want God to redeem…that you have been struggling with: alcohol, prescription drugs, bitterness, fear, loneliness. They are dominating your life; they are pinning you down.
Colossians 2:13-14 put it this way: “And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.”
Not going to have you nail it to the cross—Jesus has already done that for you if you’re in Christ. But many of us today need to name our issues, be honest, confess to God what our secrets are (He knows them already), and seek God’s mercy.
Tear them up—thought about having you throw them in the air like Valjean, but that would be a problem. Right there at your chair, have your own little redemption party, tear them up and put them in your pocket to throw up in the air somewhere or throw in the trash…but let this day be the turning point in your life.
The epilogue to this story is that from this point forward, David’s life and family are in constant chaos and turmoil. One of his sons by one wife rapes a daughter of another wife. The son of the step sister kills the rapist. David is losing control of events and his family is torn being apart. So low is the respect of his sons for him that one of them leads a rebellion, displaces David from His thrown, and then eventually is killed by the forces loyal to David. All traced back to a moment of indiscretion; a secret plot to steal and eventually kill.
