1 Relief from Sin From Shame to Honor from Guilty to Innocent Psalm 51:1-20 The Word of God will increase my faith, so then I will follow its precepts and get the Word out to all that will hear! Introduction: Have you ever found you have really messed up, I have said something that I shouldn t or I have done something that I shouldn t have. A. And as a believer it begins to nag at you doesn t (and it should) the Holy Spirit of God that lives in us will not leave us alone convicting and keeping it before us. 1. That is what sin does to the life of believer I am not saying that a sin will cause you to lose the salvation you have in Christ but because we have Christ when we have sin in our lives it will and should bother us, it nags at the joy that we are commanded to have in Christ. = As believers in Jesus Christ we are supposed to be experiencing joy! How many of us if we were honest would say truthfully I am just trying to endure living for Christ instead of experiencing the Joy that he has commanded for us? The things that I do, that I claim to be doing for Christ truth is I am reluctant. - I come to church out of habit or obligation - I give to the church because someone said it was what I was supposed to do - I read my Bible because the pastor said that is what I should do My Christian life is a drudge just killing time before Heaven! Church that is not what God has designed for us! - Even in the midst of this wicked world, even when we are lonely and suffering God wants us to experience JOY, joy unspeakable and full of glory!
2 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is [a]near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all [b]comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:-4-7 Transition: Now in the text it is obvious that David had lost his joy of his relationship with God! Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12 God is going to give David back His joy but it is important that we see what happens in David life to find the joy he once experienced in God s Salvation! David had sinned he slept with another man s wife Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah murdered on the front lines fighting for David s cause. 1. What a mess he was in when Nathan exposed David s sin to him! David knew God, David knew what it meant to walk in the Joy of God s amazing salvation, he please I want it back! 2. Church it is our sin that stifles the joy of being a child of Almighty God! = David knew that God was Holy, he knew as even we know that when there is unconfessed sin in our life that God is justified in His judgment and chastisement! I. God is Justified in His Judgement Verse 1-4 READ A. In verse 1 David acknowledges that he needs compassion, we need compassion because God is perfectly justified to not blot out our transgression as David begs for but to simply blot us out!
3 1. David ask for God s grace, when we ask for grace we are expressing the fact that we do not deserve anything and that God is justified to turn away from us and separate us from His glory and Holiness! Listen again to verse 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12 2. David says that it is against God and God only had he sinned. - But what about the others that suffered from your sin, listen church God set the bar God s holiness defines sin so when we sin it is against His holiness and perfection! It does no good to seek forgiveness from every man woman or child that you have done wrong if you have not confessed your sin before a holy God and receive His forgiveness! B. God is right and is justified to demand holiness. 1. He is justified because He is holy and to accept anything less would erase His holiness. - Should God ignore sin because we were born in sin? - Should God lower His standard because man has fallen, because man is unrighteous in his very being? Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Psalms 51:5 2. God being God and us being man does not excuse our sin God is justified in His perfect judgment of sin in our life. C. But there is relief from Sin! 1. David falls before God and confesses: Confess your sin God is faithful and just to forgive us from sin and make us perfectly clean! - David begs for compassion, David begs to be made clean, David begs to be made clean, because his sin is eating him alive!
4 Transition: I wonder doesn t our sin bothers us enough to confess it, to ask God to not do what is justified by His holiness but grant us mercy and forgiveness that we can walk in His glory? A. God is justified in His conviction of our sin so we beg for Him to blot out our transgressions! And He Does!!!! 1. To get relief for the conviction and find the joy that sin is robbing us of what we need to See the Holiness of God and justification to not give man a pass for His sin. But rather than blotting us out God cleanses us from all unrighteousness. = David ask for a clean heart! II. Create a Clean Heart verse 10-13 READ A. The heart of man is who he is, David is asking God to do a reset, wipe the slate clean give me a clean me! 1. Church that is how we get relief from the sin in our life we get it wiped away! - You see sin is greater than you but grace is greater than sin! 2. Not only is David seeking a new clean heart but a steadfast one as well, a heart that does the will of God! - A heart that does not waver but a steadfast in spirit that seeks the holiness of God in everything that it does! B. David again begs God not to cast him away he wants to be close to God: 1. Scripture if you want to be close to God then draw near to Him: How do we do that that?
5 2. Get a clean Heart! Fall before a Holy and Just God and ask Him to use the Holy Spirit in your life to keep us with a clean heart! He does that with conviction listen to Him do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God but embrace His leadership and guidance! Please God do not take away the conviction of the Holy Spirit from me! Transition: David needed relief from the sin in His life that was eating him up, his actions before God had robbed him of the joy of walking with God! A. Are you walking in the joy of the Lord or are you drudging through just trying to do the right things and holding on to the things that really don t want to give up. 1. I think about Jonah, God tells Jonah to go preach to a people that were wicked in every way but Jonah said no thank you I will continue on another way an easy way those people will not change, or even worse they will prove me wrong and God will do a miracle in their lives and change them. They don t deserve that, they don t deserve a chance! - Jonah sinned against God because there were lost wicked people that God wanted Jonah to share the love of God with but because of their wickedness he refused but who was sinning worse the people who doing these horrible things or Jonah for refusing to love them with the love of God? 2. The joy of our salvation does not come from doing what comes natural or easy the joy of the Lord is serving Him regardless of what others say regardless of how anger we are, regardless of difficulty: The joy that comes from having a clean heart is doing what God has Called us to do love the unlovable with the love of Christ and live for Christ! B. David was a murderer!
6 = Deliver Me from my bloodguiltness III. Delivered from Guilt verse 14 A. David had committed sin against God and the guilt was eating away at Him! 1. David recognized that His salvation was in God and that He had sinned against the very one that had delivered him! 2. But he makes this request with the knowledge that God will deliver him from the sin that has stolen away his joy! = Then my tongue will joyfully sing of thy righteousness! B. David was not putting conditions on God, he was not making a deal, and Church there is no negotiating with God! 1. David was simply saying that because God is able to deliver me from even murder the least I can do is sing with the joy that comes from being for given the righteousness and holiness of God! C. Church can we sing? Can we sing with the joy of know that God has given us a clean heart? 1. Can we sing with Joy because God has delivered us from the bondage of our sin? 2. Can we sing because He has blotted out our iniquities? 3. Can we sing because he has created a clean heart in us! Can we sing because we have confessed our sin before Him He has been faithful and forgiven us of that sin and has restored the joy of our salvation? O Lord, [a]open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. Psalm 51:15
7 Transition: When there is sin then there is no Joy and when there is no joy then there is no praise so we need relief from sin and God promises it through His only begotten Son Jesus! Closing: Let me close with verses 16-17 READ A. God is not pleased by our pitiful effort to do good! 1. But I sacrifice my time and my effort, I do my Bible reading I say my prayers! - Well good for you but God is not interested in your sacrifices: B. God good wants us to have a broken heart: 1. When God sees are heart is broken because we have displeased Him! = Church the only relief for sin is a broken heart before God and His faithfulness to forgive us and give us a clean steadfast heart! I am going to do close a little different this morning trying to fallow the leadership of God s Spirit. This morning if you have lost your joy and walking with God has become more of a habit and drudgery than joy there is a good chance that there is unconfessed sin in your life! This morning would you be courageous enough to step out of your seat and come kneel at this alter before God and simply confess your sin before God! - The only way to have the joy in your life is to have God wipe your heart clean with the blood of Christ: He is faithful and just to do just that! Maybe for the first time in your life God is calling you out choosing you to confess the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved: Come take me by the hand and me show you in God s Word how He has saved your soul!