September 23, 2001 Psalm 19
12 Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
In the 1980’s Don Henley sang a song called “the end of the innocence.” It goes,
Remember when the days were long and the road beneath the deep blue sky didn’t have a care in the world, with mommy and daddy standing by. When happily ever after fails and we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales, when lawyers dwell on small details, says daddy had to fly. Oh we’ll find a place where we can go still untouched by men, and sit and watch the clouds roll by and the tall grass raise in the wind. You can lay your head back on the ground, and let your hair fall around you, offer up your defense, this is the end of the innocence.
He talks about how life changed for him - when dad left his mom, his fairy tales and happily ever after failed. Then he realized he had left his years of innocence, where everything seemed so good in the world. There is a point in all of our lives that we realize that life doesn’t go as cheery as we’d like. It isn’t all happy and fun. The innocent view of life ends.
In today’s text, David dreams of being blameless in a spiritual way, innocent of great transgression. Is such a goal possible? That’s what we’ll look at today as we consider the theme -
Is There An End of The Innocence?
David started out today’s lesson by asking the question, “who can discern his errors?” That word for discern literally means to make a distinction between. It means to look carefully at something and understand what it is. An error is something you do wrong that you’re not trying to do wrong. This might include something like speeding, answering a question wrongly, or daydreaming during a sermon. When David asked, “who can discern his errors?”, he was admitting that it is impossible for a human being to be able to see his own errors.
About two years ago I was pulled over by the Kansas highway patrol. I knew I wasn’t speeding, and I couldn’t figure out what the officer was pulling the over for. He then informed me that my license plate had not been renewed as it was supposed to be. After I received a ticket of about $70, my error was brought to light. But for at least a half of a year I was unknowingly breaking the law. That’s why David asked the question, “who can discern his errors?” There are literally thousands of ways that we can break God’s laws every day without knowing it. Feeling angry can be an error. Looking at someone in the wrong way can be an error. Not saying hello to someone can be an error. We can even be erring by just sitting on our couches at home. Errors are hard to see because we don’t know what an “error” always is.
Even though it is hard to see our errors, many people will admit that they finally have errors. They’ll say, “I know I’m not perfect. I make mistakes like the rest of us.” You see what statements like this do? They admit to mistakes, but then try to minimalize the seriousness of mistakes. But what did David say? Forgive my hidden faults. Even though David didn’t know what his errors all were, he still asked God to forgive them. He realized that even though he was ignorant that didn’t make him innocent. Ignorance was and is NOT an excuse. In Leviticus 4, God said to Moses, If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, they are guilty. Imagine if you got pulled over for speeding and said, “oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to speed.” Would an officer say, “oh, you didn’t mean to speed - ok, I’ll let you off?” Of course not. Would a holy God who demands perfection really accept the excuse, “I wasn’t trying,” or, “I didn’t know what I was doing.”? No way. An error is still a sin. And God says, “the wages of sin is death.” In other words, an error is still a sin, and a sin is still damnable, intended or not.
How then should we view our errors? The same way as David! In other words, it is a big deal if two consenting adults have sex before marriage - even if no one “gets hurt,” or “nobody knows about it.” It is a big deal for a child to even give his parent a dirty look. If you can think lying to someone is no big deal, it is a big deal. Even watching the wrong stuff on TV is a serious sin. If you’re thinking, “oh come on pastor. Don’t sweat the small stuff.” Remember this saying, “small sins become great when they are regarded as small.”
David realized even his hidden faults were a big deal. And so he prayed for God to “forgive my hidden faults.” That word for forgive literally means to “leave unpunished.” Most often this Word is used in the Old Testament to describe what God will do with those who do sin. In Exodus 34 God says, “I will NOT leave the guilty go UNPUNISHED.” So how could David even ask God to do something that He swore he would not do? How could David ask a just and fair God to let him go free without any punishment at all? Why? Because he had a different promise from God. A promise which said in Psalm 22 that God would forsake his own Savior, pierce his hands and feet, and throw HIM to the lions of God’s wrath instead of David. David had the promise from the Holy Spirit that God would punish the Messiah to come INSTEAD of himself. And so it was with confidence, with a prayer that was actually an imperative command, that David humbly prayed, “you will not punish me for my hidden faults.”
It is only through the blood of Christ that our huge and many hidden sins are made small and insignificant. If someone came and painted graffiti on the wall, but the wall were then repainted with an impenetrably thick paint, it would make the graffiti invisible. That was what Christ’s blood did for us. 1 Peter 1 says, it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed. . . , 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. The blood of Christ makes our sins actually hidden from a holy God who sees everything. Now all that God sees is the blood of Christ. As far as the all-seeing God is concerned it is as if you never sinned, because you are covered from head to toe in the blood of Christ. Through faith in Christ, we too can demand in our prayers, “forgive my hidden faults.” Why? Not because we are arrogant, but because we have confidence in God’s promise that Jesus was punished in our place. This kind of a prayer simply takes God at His Word.
I. Only through the blood of Christ does our innocence begin
When I was working back in my Seminary days, I had a Catholic ask me, “would you say that hating is just as bad as murdering?” I answered the question - “yes.” Since hidden and unintentional sins are still sins, I was thinking in terms of all sins are damnable. He said, “I don’t agree with that”, and walked away. In his eyes, some sins were worse than others. Is that true? Before one comes to faith in Christ, all sins are mortal - damnable - sins. But once God brings you to Christ, you can then make a distinction between sins that damn - called “mortal,” and sins that are not damnable - called “venial”. This is what David was concerned with and talking about in his prayer.
David prayed, 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. David made a distinction between sins that he did ignorantly, and sins he did willingly. He realized that he needed forgiveness for his unintentional sins. But he also realized he had a weakness in his Christian life - that he could end up doing something willfully against God’s law. If he were to fall into a willing sin - a great transgression - that he persisted in, he would no longer be innocent. As a believer - this would be much worse than an ignorant sin.
God’s Word is very clear on this matter. Galatians 5 says, The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Genuine faith does not allow sin to have control of it. Martin Luther somewhere put it this way:
“sin clings to a Christian but a Christian does not cling to sin. We are forgiven; but this does not mean that you should continue as you were before you obtained remission of sins through faith. I am speaking of sins which you knowingly and willingly continue to commit and on account of which your own conscience rebukes and condemns you. These sins should be dead in you, that is, you should be found not ruled by them but ruling over them, resisting them and mortifying them. And if you occasionally fall or stumble, you should soon rise to your feet again, lay hold of forgiveness and begin anew to mortify your sins.”
A good example of this is in the life of David himself. There was a period in his life where he committed some terrible crimes. You remember the story - he first of all saw Bathsheba bathing on the top of his roof. Instead of repenting of his sinful looking, he may have thought to himself, “it doesn’t hurt any to look.” Then he began to think, “I wouldn’t mind having her as my wife.” And before he knew it, that unintentional glance turned into a lustful gaze, a sexual advance, adultery, deceit, and murder. It is estimated that this whole even of adultery and murder and cover-up went on for a year. For a whole year he committed adultery with Bathsheba. Could anyone honestly believe that the Holy Spirit would live in a man who was murdering someone? Yet people claim that even while David was having adulterous sex with Bathsheba and murdering her husband - being ruled by sin - that the Holy Spirit was dwelling within him. This is directly against 1 John 3 which says, No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
This still happens today. It all starts so innocently. Eve may have thought, “It’s only an apple.” Judas may have thought, “it’s only a quarter - I’ll pay it back.” You may say, “I’ll only take a drug one time. I’ll just have sex one time. I’m going to marry him anyway. I’ll just skip church once.” But before they know it, they’re having sex all the time. They’re drinking more and more. They’re skipping church all the time. They’re living with a constant guilt on their shoulders because they’re living in a way they know is not right. In other words, they’re hooked - and the devil has them. Whether they are prostitutes, alcoholics, or just teenage children run away from home, their will to do what was wrong has them hooked, and they can’t break it’s spell. It’s just like a snowball going down a hill. At first, it’s just a small little ball. But when it gets to the bottom it’s huge and out of control.
The good news is, there is hope. David was at that point in his life - where sin had control of him. But what happened? God sent Nathan, confronted David, and cracked his stony heart. After God brought David to sorrow over his sin, Nathan poured God’s forgiveness in his heart, and changed David’s will. That’s the only way that he could get out from his addiction to sex and lies. His sinful will had led him into sins - he was over his head. So God had to bail him out. God answered David’s prayer. Remember what David prayed, 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. David realized that the only way he could stay out from his willful sins from that point in his life on - would be with God’s help. He prayed that God would keep his will from going there in the first place. His destiny lay in the power and grace of God.
Isn’t that great news for you? If God could forgive David back to faith after the murderous and adulterous acts he committed, if God could convert once practicing homosexuals to live a pure life in the congregation of Corinth, and convert a murderer of Christians in Paul - then he can convert you! Remember, Jesus didn’t just die for a few sins - he died for every sin that everyone ever committed in the world. 1 John says, “he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” It’s not too late to repent of your sins, and believe in Christ. If God’s grace and power could change these people in the Bible, what makes you any different? Just as Dorothy was told to follow the yellow brick road, God says the only place you find God’s grace and power is in the Word of God - in the Lord’s Supper. Through these Means of Grace God can give you the strength to quit hating, to stop being jealous, and to start living the way you know God wants you to. Through the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel, the blood of Christ can give you a new will. The law and gospel and recreate a new heart in you - make you a new person - living in innocence - no matter how far you’ve fallen.
II. Only by the grace of God does our innocence continue
Don Henley’s song was cynical of life, because he realized that fairy tales were not true. People don’t live happily ever after. Was David living in a fairy tale - if he prayed that he could live in innocence? Is there an end of the innocence? If you think that living a life of innocence means that you’ll go through life without any sins, or any slips of the tongue, then yes, you are living in a fairy tale that will end. But that’s not what David was praying for. There will always be times in your life when you slip into sins. We all have faults - some hidden and some not so hidden. Christ died for these sins and all sins. These do not mean we are any less Christian or any less forgiven. God wants us to realize that we have these faults, that Jesus died for these sins, and like David he wants us to pray to the Lord that he would forgive our hidden faults.
But as Luther said, “you can’t keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from nesting in your hair.” Kids, you’re going to see terrible sins in high school and college. Kids getting drunk, having sex, you name it. You can’t stop them from doing what they do, but you don’t have to follow them. Instead, you can aim for a life of innocence - to live a life that would not allow the popular sins of today to get control of you. The Holy Spirit can give you strength to live according to his will. Is there an end of the innocence? Through the forgiveness of Christ and the grace of God, there doesn’t have to be - and there won’t be. Amen.
