Repentance to Joy
Psalm 51 – Communion
March 1, 2026
NOTE: For this worship, we moved communion to early in our worship, as opposed to being the final part of our worship. As a result, I start by letting them know what we're doing as I move into the message.
As you can see we’re doing things a bit differently this morning. It’s what I believe God is calling us to do as we move towards communion.
Today we are going to come to the table earlier than usual, because the scripture we are using, Psalm 51, invites us to begin at the place of mercy.
As we prepare for communion, which is open to all who proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior, I want to read this Psalm to you. I want you to take in what David is saying. This is David’s prayer of repentance. The back story that led to the prayer of repentance is that when he should have been doing what kings do, going off at war, he wasn’t.
Instead he had idle time and it led to having an affair with a woman named Bathsheba. Later she came and told him she was pregnant with his child. Then David had her husband killed so he could take her as his wife. The prophet Nathan confronted David with his sin and Psalm 51 is his prayer - - - -
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
LEAVE A MOMENT OF SILENCE
It’s an extremely heavy Psalm. I want to talk about this psalm and what it means for us and what we can do over the next few minutes before we take communion.
Note the words in verses 3 and 4 - - - -3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
Have you ever noticed when we sin, our sin is right before us! We know what we did. It’s weight is upon us. I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Those are tough words when we become so aware of our sin. The motivation and reason is immaterial. We sinned! End of statement.
And while our sin is against another person, our sin is always against God. Even those sins which are done in private. God’s the ultimate One whom we’ve sinned against. David accepts full blame and accountability.
I have sinned against you God. I’ve done what is evil in your sight. So, God you are justified to enact whatever justice you deem necessary. Your judgment is perfect. It’s blameless and I will not argue or cry out at you when you let me have it . . . because Lord, I certainly deserve it. My sin has led to a man’s death, and my baby is ultimately going to die, my life and the life of others will forever be changed.
Yet, if I were to be really honest, in our world, we tend to minimize sin. We say, ‘Oh that wasn’t so bad. It could have been worse. No harm, no foul.’
And on top of that, we compare ourselves to others. Well, I only took $10, but she took $5,000. That’s not so bad. He has 5 drinks a night, I only have 2. We can go on and on in the ways we compare ourselves with others.
Ultimately it’s coming to face the facts that sin is sin. Whatever we do, however we do it, we’ve removed ourselves from the presence of God because of our sin.
We even try to rename it. We don’t talk about sin, we talk about making mistakes. We talk about being weak in some areas, so I’m still a work in progress. You know, I have lots of struggles and those struggles lead me to do things that aren’t very good.
I used to justify my anger. I grew up in an angry home. Anger was the normal emotion. So, I when I became angry, I did what I saw happening in the home. I didn’t know what was right or wrong. It took years to work through that to know and understand what’s right and what’s wrong. What is sin and what is not.
We’ve all been there. We’ve all got our stuff to deal with. It’s part of our history. That doesn’t justify it, it makes sin real. When we can name our sin, it makes it real and hopefully it leads us to do something about it.
So, David prays these great words in verse 1 - - - -
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
I love the directness of David. There’s no dancing around the topic. There’s no waffling and groveling. It’s head on with God. That’s such a great prescription for us.
God, I blew it. I’ve sinned against you. Have mercy on me. Don’t give me what I deserve. According to your constant, ever present love, be merciful. Oh God, blot out your memory of my sinfulness. Take this terrible act and remove it. Delete it from your judgment seat.
What’s important here is that David is not begging. This is a heartfelt prayer. God have mercy. God I have sinned!! This is the start of David returning to God. Isn’t this the key in bringing healing to our broken relationships as well?
It’s when we can admit our sins. It’s being able to ask for forgiveness and seek to restore a relationship which has been fractured. It’s asking and seeking from our hearts, not just offering lip service. It’s being sincere and humble. It’s not casting blame.
David could have told God, you shouldn’t have put that woman there. Why did you appoint me to take a walk when she was bathing? I didn’t need this God, it’s your fault. But that’s not the way to seek reconciliation.
I would imagine it would have been so difficult for David to go into the house of the Lord, in the tabernacle and give himself entirely to God. There was now a distance between David and God. Those walls were erected by David. Not God. God was saying come to me, David was running from God, that is, until Nathan came to him.
And a quick word about Nathan. We might struggle with the Nathan’s in our lives, yet at the same time we need them and love them. They tell us exactly what we don’t want to hear, but need to hear. David was the king, the most powerful man in the world. He could have had Nathan killed, but David bowed down and admitted “I am the man! I did it!” Friends, don’t run from the Nathan’s, but listen to their wisdom and knowledge.
So, David prays - - - -
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
David’s seeking to be cleansed. He’s direct and honest. Isn’t that what we want after we’ve sinned? We want to be cleansed to be made pure. Do you see the words David used?
I shall be clean
Whiter than snow
Create a clean heart
Renew a right spirit
Restore the joy
This is the ultimate in his repentance. This is what David’s seeking. He wants repentance, which leads to the restoration of his joy. It’s not about shame, it’s joy, it’s communion and union with God.
Today we’re not just talking about mercy. We’re seeking to receive it. It’s what we hear in the words of John in 1 John 1:9 - - - -
9 If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9
If we confess. That’s a big IF, but when we do, God is faithful and just. Just as David declared that God is right to judge him, God is right to judge us as well, yet, God didn’t send Jesus into the world to condemn us, but to offer us an abundant life.
And so when we come as David did, with humility and a deep longing, he experiences God’s grace and mercy. He is forgiven! He’s also cleansed, made whiter than snow, washed with the hyssop branch, purified in God’s sight! WHY? It’s what Paul said in the great passage in 2 Corinthians 5:21 - - - -
21 For our sake God made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21
Do you see that? Jesus who was the perfect one, who knew no sin, who never sinned, took on our sin, so that in God’s eyes we might become righteous. That’s a huge, huge theological statement by God. Without going into it to deeply, it’s called Imputed Righteousness.
This means Jesus took our sin upon Himself and now God looks at us as righteous. Not because of what we did, but because of what Jesus did. We are never righteous on our own, but in God’s eyes, in the eyes of the Father, we’re righteous, pure and blameless, only because of Jesus and we now receive God’s grace and mercy.
In the end, David prays - - - -
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Aah, friends, this is what the Father wants from us. This is so crucial. God’s first order of business is not the outward performance or gifts. It’s the inward.
The first order of business for God is not the outward sacrifice but the inward sacrifice. God wants the broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. A "broken spirit" and "contrite heart" mean feeling true sorrow, humility, and profound regret for sin, rather than offering empty rituals. We often go through the motions, rather than offering ourselves in humility.
And God does not despise or reject a broken, repentant heart; instead, He welcomes it.
God prioritizes the internal state of our heart — humility, sincerity and honesty always takes precedence over our outward religious performance.
So, when David prays restore to me the joy of your salvation. That’s where he’s coming from. And when that happens, look what comes out of it - - - -
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
Isn’t that our call as well. We recognize how blessed we are and we can’t help but want to go into the world and tell the world about Jesus and how blessed and grateful we are. And when we do that with all humility, sinners, those not in Christ, will come to Him. That’s the power of experiencing God’s grace and glory.
As we close this time in Psalm 51, I want you to notice something -- -- --
David does not end this psalm crushed.
He ends it being restored.
He begins with, “Have mercy on me.”
He ends with, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.”
That’s the movement of repentance. Not shame. Not self-hatred. Not spiritual punishment.
Mercy. Cleansing. Joy.
And today, we’re not just talking about it. We’ve come to a place where we can experience it. We’ve come to a place where that mercy was purchased.
We come to the table.
(Pause briefly.)
Before we receive the bread and the cup, I want to give us a moment.
Psalm 51 is a deeply personal prayer.
“Wash me.”
“Create in me. restore to me.”
So right now, I’m going to ask you to talk to the Lord. Maybe there’s something you need to confess. This is between you and the Lord. If there is something you have minimized . . . . If there’s something you’ve been carrying quietly . . . . If there’s something you need to name before God - - - -
This is the moment.
Let’s take some time in silence as we pray and seek God’s presence.
(Silent prayer)
PASTOR PRAYING
Father, according to Your steadfast love, have mercy on us.
Wash us thoroughly from our sinfulness. Blot out our transgressions.
Create in us clean hearts. Make us whiter than snow.
Restore to us the joy of Your salvation.
May we offer our entire self in total humility,
Because you seek our hearts and spirits, not our ritualistic gifts.
We come not because we are worthy —
but because Christ is. Amen.
CONTINUE SPEAKING
If you have confessed before the Lord this morning, hear this clearly - - - -
God does not despise a broken and contrite heart. He receives it.
Psalm 51 with restoration and joy.
Repentance is not groveling.
Repentance is coming home.
And the table before us is not a place of shame.
It is a place of restoration.
Invitation to the Table
The bread we receive today reminds us
that Christ’s body was broken for sinners.
The cup reminds us
that His blood was poured out for forgiveness.
Psalm 51 says,
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.”
The cross is the greater cleansing.
So if you are trusting in Christ —
not trusting in your goodness,
not trusting in your effort —
but trusting in His mercy —
this table is for you.
Come not in shame.
Come in humility.
Come in hope.
COMMUNION PRAYER
Lord, we’ve come before you, you are the potter,
we are the clay. Mold us, make us, create us
so we may become more like you.
We confess our sinfulness. We give it to you.
Blot out our transgressions and make us whiter than snow.
Thanks you for Jesus, for grace and mercy.
Thank you for your never ending love and power.
We pray in the power of Jesus, the Christ! AMEN
Words Over the Bread
When you hold the bread:
On the night He was betrayed, Jesus took bread.
He did not ask for our perfection.
He offered Himself.
His body was broken so that our sin would not have the final word.
Take and eat — not as those condemned, but as those forgiven.
Words Over the Cup
This cup represents the new covenant in His blood.
Not partial cleansing. Not temporary relief.
Full forgiveness.
As far as the east is from the west that’s how far God has blotted out our sin.
Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s mercy is greater than your sin.
After Communion
We have come before the Lord this morning.
Hear this - - - -
You are clean.
You are forgiven.
You are restored.
Walk in the joy of that salvation.
SINGING - JOYFUL
