CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL (PS. 51)
The young preacher thrilled his congregation with his first sermon - a challenge to “gird their loins” for Christian service and living. (The sermon was the topic of conversation among parishioners after service. It was practical, straightforward, and inspirational.)
Then, to their surprise, the preacher preached the same sermon the following Sunday, and to their dismay, for a third week. After he confronted them with the same ringing message on the third Sunday, his flock (specifically the leaders) felt something must be done.
“Don’t you have more than just one sermon?” blurted a spokesman to the pastor. “Oh, yes,” he said quietly. “I have quite a number (of sermons). But you haven’t done anything about the first one yet. (Adapted from Tan # 7462)
The rise, the fall and the restoration of David is one of the greatest stories in the history of world literature, putting to shame the best and greatest of Greek and Shakespeare drama. More than one thousand references to David’s name are recorded in the Bible. David was the central character of the Old Testament, the greatest king of Israel, and the ancestor of the Messiah.
However, a question still persists: Why did God still retain and restore David in spite of his many weaknesses as a husband, father, king and neighbor. Psalm 51 is the place to go in Scriptures to understand why God gave David and sinners like him a second chance. It was written after Nathan had chided David for adultery with Bathsheba. The psalm is a masterpiece in confession.
What kind of confession is acceptable to God? How do we know if one is remorseful and penitent? What should a penitent sinner say, how should the person feel and think?
KNOW THE SCOPE OF YOUR SIN
51:1 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. 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.
For a long time, I had refused to get rid of the old washing machine I bought used for $100, but the machine was on its last legs after we moved. The movers had bent one of its legs while laying it down. I had try putting cardboard, plastic and wood to prop the machine but nothing could stop the violent shaking when the machine was on its ending spin cycle.
So, my wife and I finally gave in and shopped for a new washer. I intended to get the smallest one with the simplest functions at the least cost, but my wife had a mind of her own. She hunted for a larger capacity washer that could clean the bed sheets, rugs, and other heavy items.
After a visit to Sears, we finally settled for a Kenmore Three-speed with speed control washer that has various functions, including speed control for handwash, delicate, normal or heavy duty; small, medium, and large load laundry; cold, warm and hot water temperatures. Doris is most pleased with the handwash function that saves her working clothes from the battery and stress of a normal wash. Most of all, we were relieved that we did not have to endure the house-shaking and earth-moving violent and furious clatter generated by the old machine the last two or three minutes before the washing was complete.
Sin breaks down our relationship with God, and we cannot hope for restoration or begin the restoration we know the extent of the damage.
“Have mercy on me” is an old plea from Job that David adapted into a moving prayer to God. Job appealed in vain for his friends’ understanding, saying “Have pity on me, my friends, have pity” (Job 19:21). On the other hand and unlike Job, David realized only God could help him. Up to this point, theological declarations such as “God has been gracious to me” (Gen 33:11) or “the LORD was gracious to them” (2 Kings 13:23) and general prayers such as “God/the Lord be gracious to you (Gen 43:29, Num 6:25) were popular and in common use. David was the first one and the only one to use the phrase “Have mercy on me” in prayer to God (Ps 6:2, 9:13, 31:9, 41:4, 10, 57:1, 86:3, 86:16). All other prayers for mercy end with the personal pronoun “us” instead of “me.” The verb “have mercy” has the connotation of a superior bending or stooping in kindness to an inferior. When David prayed for God’s mercy he was not asking the Lord to lower Himself to his level, but to be present with him or to be by his side in his lowliness, and possibly to lift him up. It’s been said that mercy is asking for what we do not deserve.
The second phrase in verse 1 is “unfailing love” or the popular Hebrew word for God’s chesed love, which KJV translated as “lovingkindness” 22 times in Psalms (Ps 17:7, 25:6, 26:3, 36:7, 36:10, 40:10, 40:11, 42:8, 48:9, 63:3, 69:16, 88:11, 89:33, 89:49, 92:2, 103:4, 107:43, 119:88, 119:149, 119:159, 138:2, 143:8). The third word “compassion” is the Hebrew word for “bowels,” which the KJV has affectionately translated as “tender mercies” (Ps 25:6, 40:11, 51:1, 69:16, 77:9, 79:8, 103:4, 119:77, 119:156, 145:9, Prov 12:10). God is not interested to penalize, shame or hurt us when we sin, but to correct us. He does not chastise us according to His anger, but His mercy, love, and compassion. What is the difference?
David realized he could not appeal to God on the basis of his work or worth. He had showed himself undeserving of God’s forgiveness and had done nothing to merit God’s goodness. That’s what the truly repentant say to God in prayer. Tele-evangelists, athletes and politicians have conveniently said “I have sinned against God” to imply that only God has the right to judge them but they have slyly dropped out the next line - “and done what is evil in your sight.” They conveniently say “I have made mistakes,” “I have lapsed in judgment” No one in his right frame of mind would say “I have failed you,” “I have betrayed your trust,” or “I have acted wickedly.” David exposed and called sin for what it was, a spade for a spade. David called what he did transgression (v 1, 3), iniquity (v 2) and sin (v 3). Transgression is the attitude – the rebellious, defiant and stubborn attitude of the sinner; iniquity is the nature of the sin - perversity, repulsive and sick behavior and nature; and sin is the result and its cost - an offense, a blatant and punishable offense.
After his confession, David placed himself and his future in God’s hands. He asserted that God is righteous in His words and pure/clean in His judgment (v 4). Verse 4 is an amazing confession. David confessed his sin was ever before him. He had no excuse of what he had done, using “You” or “Your” six times in verse 4. Not only did bare his soul before God, he uncovered the truth (v 6) before Him.
FEEL THE STAIN OF YOUR SIN (5-9)
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.
After three and a half years in our present house we finally decided to clean up our house, especially the stains in our carpet. We had discussed discarding the carpet after a few more years but we paid big bucks - $2,147 for the carpet and $200 for installation - for the carpet that the salesperson said was resistant to dust.
One night I told my wife I was heading to the supermarket to buy carpet stain remover, because I couldn’t stand the ugly stains anymore. She said, “Wait, we have something that worked before. It’s just that we have never used it since!” after a while, she produced a ZEP 32 oz. commercial high traffic carpet cleaner. It says: “Excellent for spots and small highly soiled areas.” It promised to clean even the toughest stains in high traffic area of the owner’s carpet, including those caused by blood urine, pooh-pooh and vomit.
So we obediently followed the instructions. One of us sprayed the spots, the other clean it with a damp sponge after a few minutes wait. Voila! It worked! We were proud carpet owners again.
Sin is filth, unsightly, and vile to God. It soils, stresses and severs a believer’s relationship to God. No powder, liquid, bleach, cleaning agent or cleaning lady or cleaning company can do the heavy washing or remove the dirt, the discoloring or the disgrace within. The only way is to come clean with God and make confession to Him.
David longed for a clean heart and a cleansed heart, to be whiter than snow, to feel fresher than clean laundry, to be rid of blotted ink, to be unlike used paper or a written page, like a leper cleansed of his spots.
David began by stating his general desire for God to blot out his rebellion, to wash away his perversity and to cleanse his offense. The verb order is reversed in verses 7 through 9. “Cleanse” will show up first - in verse 7, “wash” (v 7) retains its middle position, and “blot out” (v 9) is last now. The three imageries are related to cleansing, writing – from “blot out”, and washing.
The only ultra clean wash provided in the law is the use of hyssop. Hyssop (v 7) is an aromatic plant used for ritual or ceremonial agent to cleanse or purify the altar (Lev 8:15) and the leper (Lev 14:4-7) and his house (Lev 14:49), or for the removal of sins of defiled people (Num 19:19) in a purification ceremony. David compared himself with a cleansed leper who needs the declaration of a priest to make him ceremonially clean. A person cleansed from sin feels like clean laundry and like an unmarked or new page.
However, ritual cleansing from the law is not enough. He needed to be cleansed within (v 10). David asked God for a clean heart and a steadfast spirit. The word “clean means “pure,” not perfect but wholesome or true, as in pure gold (Ex 25:11, 28:13). The word “right” means upright or erect. The Chinese commend and recommend the ability to walk and stand erect. He doesn’t want to be a fake or a slouch in character or behavior. What is more horrifying than living outside of God’s will is living devoid of His presence. The stain of sin separates us from our holy God. David pleaded for God not to cast him away or take His Spirit away (v 11). Both the word “cast” and “take” have the horror of being permanently “cast away” and “take away.” In David the psalmist’s theology, salvation comes from and belongs to God and is impossible apart from God’s presence (Ps 12:5, 18:2, 20:6, 24:5, 25:5, 27:1, 62:7, 65:5, 69:13).
SUBMIT THE STING OF YOUR SIN (10-13)
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight you; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, more than 8.7 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed on people to manage signs of aging or enhance their appearance in 2003, up 32 percent from nearly 6.6 million in 2002, while minimally invasive procedures jumped 41 percent over 2002. The overall top five surgical cosmetic plastic surgery procedures in 2003 were nose reshaping (356,554), liposuction (320,022), upper body (254,140), eyelid surgery (246,633), and facelift (128,667).
The favorite procedure for those 35-50 age group, which made up 40 percent of all cosmetic plastic surgery, was liposuction. People 19 to 34 that made up 26 percent of cosmetic surgeries, chose nose reshaping as their number one procedure. Patients 51 to 64, who made up 24 percent of cosmetic surgeries for 2003, opted for eyelid surgery.
Women, who had 82 percent of the cosmetic plastic surgery, chose liposuction most often in 2003, followed by upper body, nose reshaping, eyelid surgery and facelift, whereas the men’s top choices were nose reshaping, eyelid surgery, liposuction, hair transplantation for male-pattern baldness and facelift.
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/news_room/press_releases/More-Than-8-Million-Cosmetic-Plastic-Surgery-in-2003.cfm
Unlike cosmetic surgery, sin is heart surgery. It is a blow, a force, and a chokehold to the heart. It is worse than heartburn, cuts like a knife, longer than a heart attack. Unconfessed sin feels like a knee to the chest, a chokehold on the throat, and a weight on our hearts, shoulders, and feet. Nothing can soften the blow, relieve or lighten the load of unconfessed sin.
But what do we offer God for relief of sin? God does not delight in prime rib, filet mignons, or New York steaks. Nor does he salivate for cooked, roasted, smoked or rare food. The best cut is not cut; it is best broken. A broken and contrite heart is what the Lord yearns for and takes pleasure in. A repentant sinner feels heavyhearted, deep remorse and the weight of sin in his heart. Denial and disregard of sin will lead to sleeplessness, moodiness, darkness, listlessness, and ineffectualness.
The word “broken” means more than broken; it means broken in pieces, broken up, brokenhearted or crushed. The word “contrite” is found only in the Psalms and is more biting than the word “broken.” The sensation of soreness is inherent in the Hebrew word “contrite.” David felt aching, hurting, and stinging pain in its maximum strength, extreme force, and utmost degree. To the point the heart is in crouching position, shriveled and bent under the weight of sin. The sinner feels sore because his heart is sensitive to sin and tender to God.
Conclusion: Ray Stedman says, “Sin is an insult and an injury to God.” God wants in us a change of heart. Repentance is not repentance until the sinner longs for real change and desires to be a new man, not just for the trouble to go away. God disciplines us when we sin, but He does it not to chastise us, but to chasten and correct His people. To chastise is to inflict punishment (as by whipping), but to chasten is to correct by punishment or suffering. He rids us of excess, pretense, or falsehood. Are you using hot water on yourself when you have sinned? Extra strength liquid? Large-capacity washer?
Victor Yap
http://epreaching.blogspot.com/
www.riversidecma.org
www.preachchrist.com (Chinese sermons)
