The first verse of Psalm 51 says this: “A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.” Psalms 51:1
David had committed adultery with the wife of one of his best friends (Uriah) and when it became obvious that Bathsheba was pregnant David realized that if Uriah didn’t sleep with her soon everybody would know the child wasn’t Uriah’s. So, David tried to hide his sin by tricking his best friend into coming home and sleeping with his wife.
David sent a message to the commander of the army to send Uriah to him. When Uriah arrived David pretended to be interested in news from the battle, and then sent the man home to his wife… BUT URIAH REFUSED TO GO HOME.
Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!" 2 Samuel 11:11
So David got Uriah drunk and sent him home… but still Uriah refused to go home and sleep with his wife.
Finally, David decides on a more drastic solution. He sent Uriah back to the battle front with a message for Joab which read: “Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” 2 Samuel 11:15
And David’s plan worked perfectly – Uriah died on the field of battle. David was free to take Bathsheba as his wife, and his sin was hidden. Or so he thought.
Isaiah 29:15 declares: Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?"
Hebrews 4:13 tells us “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
You can’t hide anything from God… and neither could David. David thought he’d hidden his sin. He thought he had it covered. He thought no one would know…. but God knew. And then God sent His prophet Nathan to David and declared “Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.” 2 Samuel 12:9-10
What was David to do now? He didn’t DESERVE God’s forgiveness. He’d committed adultery. He’d committed murder by proxy. And God KNEW what he’d done it. David would never deserve God’s forgiveness. So what was David to do?
Well, David did a very unusual thing…. HE REPENTED. In fact, throughout the Psalm David admits his sin. He calls it “MY INIQUITY”; “MY SIN”; “MY TRANSGRESSIONS”. The Psalm is filled with declarations that he was at fault.
He didn’t try to blame someone else for his sin; He didn’t try to blame Bathsheba for bathing in the nude; He didn’t try to blame Uriah for not sleeping with his wife; He didn’t try to blame his other wives for not meeting his needs;
He didn’t try to blame Joab for allowing Uriah to die on the battle front; AND he didn’t try to blame God for allowing him to be tempted.
Instead, he said: “I (have) sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.” (Psalm 51:4) “David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’” And Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” 2 Samuel 12:13
DAVID REPENTED. AND GOD FORGAVE HIM.
Now granted there were still consequences – terrible consequences for David’s sin – but God forgave him. God gave David something he did not deserve. God gave him forgiveness! But why? David had done a terrible thing! How could God forgive him?
Well (as we’ve already stated) David didn’t deserve to be forgiven - even David understood that, David wrote: "Have mercy on me, O God…” Psalm 51:1
Have mercy? What is mercy?
ILLUS: The story’s told about a mother once approached Napoleon, seeking a pardon for her son. And the emperor replied the that young man had committed a certain offense TWICE and justice demanded death. “But I’m not asking for justice,” the mother explained. “I’m pleading for mercy.” “Your son does not deserve mercy,” Napoleon replied. “Sir,” the woman cried, “it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for.” Then Napoleon smiled and said, “Well then, I will have mercy.” And he spared the woman’s son. (Luis Palau, Experiencing God’s Forgiveness, Multnomah Press, 1984)
The Bible is an odd mix of justice and mercy. Justice demanded David should die. But God’s Mercy spared him. In the same way - justice demanded that we die for our sins. But, God’s mercy allowed for Jesus to die in our place. We were spared the result of our sin (death) because of the mercy given us in Jesus.
In Titus 3:5 we’re told that “(God) saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own MERCY, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”
So, God grants us Mercy … just as He did for David. But God’s mercy requires something from us…. Just as it did from David. In 2 Peter 3:9 we’re told that “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
In order to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness, we have to repent. No repentance… no forgiveness.
ILLUS: Dick Harfield, (a prominent atheist contributor to Quora.com) answered a question about the meaning of John 3:16-17 by saying he believed those verses taught that “Evil people go to heaven as long as they believe.”
Now that was kind of a bald way of stating it… but it’s true. And yet that doesn’t seem quite right? Evil people should be punished, good people should be rewarded - ergo, only good people should go to heaven. So. Harfield didn’t care IF evil people repented. HE wouldn’t forgive them because they didn’t measure up to HIS righteousness, and so they should all go to hell. Yet he missed the whole point of Jesus’ ministry and the message of Christianity: Jesus said: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:31–32
You see, Jesus spent his time with “tax collectors and sinners”, and not with the righteous men of the day. The repeated theme throughout the New Testament is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Thus, none of us is good enough to be good enough to go to heaven. John 3:16 is basically saying God didn’t want anyone to perish, but that all should come to repentance. Even people like Mr. Harfield… and people like you… and people like me. Thus, Christians should view heaven… not as a right, but as a privilege that we don’t deserve. At our best, followers of Christ should be humble because we see that God is not impressed with our “self-righteousness”, but HE IS impressed with a repentant heart. And because we see that as true, it’s hard for us to shut up about the love of God that was willing to pay the price for ALL our sins and give hope to the hopeless. Our Jesus is the God of 2nd chances. That’s why John 3:17 tells us "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
But our repentance would mean nothing … if something special was missing - and you wouldn’t want this special something to be missing. Do you know what it is? Do you know what you wouldn’t want missing in your life?
THE LOVE OF GOD.
In Ephesians Paul wrote: “…you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” Ephesians 2:1-3
Paul was telling the Ephesians that they did not deserve forgiveness. They had been OBJECTS of God’s wrath. In fact, Paul included US in that statement: “Like the rest” he said… (that’s you and I), the Ephesians were by nature objects of wrath.”
But that is what it USED TO BE for us. It used to be (before we became Christians) that we were in trouble. We WERE objects of wrath. We deserved to go to hell. But then Paul continues: “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. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:4-8
How could God do that? How could God forgive us? Well He could forgive us because He has a powerful and deep love for us. And because He is rich in mercy. We were forgiven - NOT because we deserved it - but because of GOD’S love and mercy. And that’s what David pled for in Psalm 51:1 “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your STEADFAST LOVE; according to your ABUNDANT MERCY blot out my transgress”
CLOSE: You know, yesterday was a special day on our calendar. What was yesterday? It was VALENTINE’S DAY! It’s a day where we celebrate the beauties of romantic love. And yet a lot of people don’t realize is that Valentine’s day was created to honor a couple Christian men who shared the named VALENTINE.
The first VALENTINE was beheaded by Rome in 269 because he was helping Christians who were being persecuted. The 2nd VALENTINE lost his head because he baptized a Roman family into Christ.
Now, there are romantic people these days might say “I’d die for you…” but they probably wouldn’t. But these men (named Valentine) were willing to die for Christ because they knew Jesus had died for them. And Jesus had died for them because He loved them.
In fact, in order to become a Christian… you must be willing to die for Christ. God calls you to do die to your sin, and be buried in the waters of baptism, and then rise from those waters to live a new life in Christ.
INVITATION
