Situations, circumstances, actions, and words sometime result in the lost of something. When you invest in a company that may not be doing so well; the result may be a lost of money. There may be days at work where you have several deadlines to meet, the school is on the line telling you that your child is sick and need to be picked up, your boss is standing in your office waiting for you to hang up, so that they can give you your next assignment, and your spouse is sending text messages asking what’s for dinner (notice I said spouse because we now live in a time where household responsibilities are shared that were traditionally done by mothers, some wife is saying “not in my house,” lol). But by the end of the day this type of situation will result in the lost of one’s mind.
If somebody were to stand in your face, call you names, talk about you and your mommy, and tell you that you’ll never amount to anything, then those words may result in the lost of your confidence, hope, and self-esteem. Young people when you think that you’re in love and break-up with your boyfriend or girlfriend, then you feel like you’ve lost the love of your life. And when you come home and play video games and watch television before doing your homework, those actions result in the lost of A’s & B’s, which also leads to the lost of your privileges to play video games, talk on the phone, and watch TV. So, we see that situations, circumstances, actions, and words can result in the lost of something physical, material, or mental.
This isn’t a new concept, since the beginning of time people have lost something as a result of their situations, actions, and words. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which God said was off limits, they lost their fellowship with God. When Moses hit the rock instead of speaking to it to bring forth water as God had commanded, he lost the opportunity to cross over to the Promised Land. When Samson told the sweet talking Delilah where his strength lied, it resulted in the lost of his dignity. And when Peter walked on water and took his off of Jesus, he lost his faith.
We don’t live in a perfect world; sometimes we gain and at times we lose. In our text we find the author of this psalm, David, lose some physical, mental, and spiritual things because of his sins. I believe we’ve all experienced or will experience the mental anguish, physical pain, or spiritual disconnection because of the sins we’ve committed. A person of the world might not understand what’s going on, but children of God discover in the Word of God, that sin causes these types of feelings and emotions. And not only does sin affect us mentally and spiritually, but it can affect us physically as well. If you don’t believe me let’s see. Paul told the Corinthians to self-examine themselves and confess to Christ so that they wouldn’t sin against the spiritual presence of the Lord while taking communion. Because they were taking the Lord’s Supper unworthily, Paul said this is the reason many of you are weak and sickly, and why many have died.
But in our psalm we find David, a great man who served a great nation under a great God, dealing with the aftermath of his sins. David had committed many sins in his lifetime just as we have, but David wrote this psalm while dealing with specific sins at a particular time in his life. While King David was about fifty years of age, he committed a series of terrible sins that led to terrible consequences. Psalm 51 was written after the prophet Nathan came and revealed to David that God knew about his sins and wasn’t pleased with his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah.
If you’re not familiar with the story, one day David walked out on his balcony and from there he saw a woman bathing and the bible says she very beautiful, like my wife. This woman, Bathsheba, caught David’s attention to the point that he had to find out who she was. After enquiring about her, he sent his messengers to bring her to him and he laid with her. Now David wasn’t the only guilty party, because Bathsheba was bathing where she could be seen and we sin as well when we become a stumbling block to someone else, but that’s another message titled, “Watch Out, Before You Make Your Brother Fall.” But when Bathsheba became pregnant David tried to cover up his sin by having her husband sent home from battle, getting him drunk, and hoping that he would go home and sleep with his wife so that it could look like he was the baby daddy. When David’s plan didn’t work for two nights in a row, David sent Uriah back to the battlefield carrying his own death sentence in a letter that said to put Uriah in the heat of the battle, so that he could be killed.
Uriah was killed, and David took Bathsheba to be his wife. David kept his sins a secret as long as he could and when the prophet Nathan finally revealed to David through a parable that his sins weren’t as hidden as he thought, it led David to confession and repentance, and it led David to write this psalm which also described what he lost because of the sins he had committed.
What is lost when sins are committed? In verse 3 David says, “For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.” The first thing we see is when sin is committed we lose a clear conscience. David recognized the wrong he had done; how he had rebelled against God and his sins were constantly staring him in the face, haunting him day and night. When David tried to think of something else, the sin he had done would pop up in his head and he would feel the mental anguish and remorse.
Have you ever watched a scary movie even though you know that you’re a scary person? And after the movie is over you find yourself constantly thinking about the scary parts and replaying scenes over in your mind. This is what David was going through and this is what we go through as well when we realize how bad we’ve messed up. We can barely get our assignments done at work and we really don’t feel like being bothered with anyone when our sin is constantly before us. We try to go through the day, but our sin is before us. We lay down at night thinking we will get a good night’s rest, but the sin we’ve committed is even in our dreams. Our ability to think straight is lost and our clear conscience is lost to the thoughts of our sin.
Not only do we lose a clear conscience when we sin, but when sin is committed our joy and gladness is lost as well. Look at verse 8, David says, “Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.” David didn’t only lose the joy within his heart, but nothing around David could give him joy either. When David realized he had sinned against God, his heart was saddened and nothing or nobody could make him glad. David lost the sound of joy and gladness. Nothing sounds good when we’re out of fellowship with God. David’s bones couldn’t even rejoice, in order words his soul was so deeply distressed by the sense of God’s displeasure that David cried out to God that his soul may rejoice.
Have you been here before because of a sin you’ve committed? Satan makes you feel as though all hope is gone, he makes you think that God wants nothing to do with you. Your lack of joy affects the way you respond to others and it can also affect the close relationships you have with people. You may be smiling on the outside, but on the inside your heart wears a frown. You may even appear to be standing tall, but on the inside the façade of your heart is tumbling down. Your favorite book or television show can’t give you joy, not even the dog wagging his tail whose so happy to see you when you come home. When we have committed sin we lose joy, gladness, and our feeling of excitement that causes us to rejoice.
As David continues to cry out to God we find that when sin is committed, we lose the purity of our inner man. Verse 10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” David realized that his heart wasn’t pure and that his spirit wasn’t firm or steadfast anymore. Sin had so corrupted the heart of David that a repair job wouldn’t do, he needed a new heart. He also lost the steadfastness of his spirit and wanted God to make it firm again.
We too lose the purity of our inner man when sin is committed. Our hearts become hard especially when sin is left unconfessed as long as David’s sin was. Our spirits began to waver and it doesn’t take much from the enemy to cause us to follow his ways. When our inner man is no longer pure it opens the door to so many other sins. So David saw that his sin caused him to become impure.
And as if all these things that David lost wasn’t enough, when sin is committed we also lose the joy of our salvation. In verse 12a, David said unto God, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” David once had the joy of God’s salvation, but lost it because of sin. David no longer had the zeal he once had when he first came to know God personally. The salvation of the Lord is something that should always bring joy to our hearts, but sin had harbored in the heart of David so long, that not even the thought of salvation brought him joy. This time in David’s life would have been a bad time for him to be a witness for God, because he wouldn’t have been able to share with others the joy of the Lord. If we lose the joy of our salvation, then how can we expect to win lost souls to Christ.
As children of God we have to understand that when sin steals the joy of our salvation, that salvation itself isn’t lost. We may lose many things when we sin just as David did, but one thing we can be assured of is that we’re still children of God. When we mess up and miss the mark, don’t allow satan to make you feel like you’re not saved anymore. If that were the case, then I would have lost my salvation the very next minute after being saved.
I know that you’re really enjoying this sermon and you want me to continue for twenty more minutes, but I’m getting ready to close, sit down and be happy all by myself. But let’s look at one more thing that’s lost when sin is committed, and that’s our passion and desire to worship and praise the Lord. Verses 14&15 say, “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.” David’s sin caused his mouth to be shut. When others praised God, David’s sin hindered his praise. When the choir was singing, David’s sin wouldn’t allow him to join in. David said if God forgave him, then he would sing aloud of His righteousness and praises to God would fall from his lips. David wasn’t bargaining with God, David wanted to freely worship and praise God but he was weighed down so much by his sin that it became impossible for him to do so. But if God were to remove the guilt and shame, then praises would continually flow from his mouth.
Has sin ever kept you from praising God? Have you felt like God doesn’t want to hear anything you have to say? Once again satan loves to make us feel as though we can’t praise God when we’ve messed up. He also likes to make us feel like we can’t even pray, when that’s exactly what we need to be doing. The bible says that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Well, if those who denied Christ will one day have to worship him, then why can’t a child of God send up praises regardless of what we’ve done. If God has forgiven us, then we should be able to praise His Holy and Wonderful name!
David suffered a great lost because of his sins, and because we’re made of flesh just as David was we too can identify with his lost and pain. But this sermon would not be of any help if I didn’t tell you the good news in this bad situation. Throughout this psalm, which is David’s plea to God for mercy, forgiveness, cleansing, and restoration, when we read the scriptures we find that God did answer David’s prayer. Because of the sins David committed he lost his clear conscience, but God removed the guilt and shame. David lost his joy and gladness, but God opened his ears to hear joy and gladness and made his bones rejoice. David lost the purity of his inner man, but God created in him a clean heart and renewed his spirit. David lost the joy of his salvation, but God restored it as if it had never left. And David lost passion and desire to worship and praise the Lord, but God delivered him from bloodguiltiness and gave him a song in his heart.
If God did this for David, then he can do it for you. I’m a witness, because when I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, he heard my cry and because of his lovingkindness and the multitudes of his tender mercies, he had mercy upon me and blotted out my transgressions. He washed me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleansed my sins. I was purged and made clean, washed white as snow. He created in me a clean heart, and renewed a right spirit in me. He restored the joy of my salvation, and opened my mouth so that I can praise him...
