FBC Morning Light – March 13, 2023

Well, a good Monday morning to you. I hope by now you have recovered from that lost hour of sleep from over the weekend. I hope you were able to, you know, not lose it really, but actually get to bed at a good time on Saturday night, you were refreshed Sunday morning, and then when you gathered with God's people at church, that spiritually refreshed you.

The Monday Reading Plan and Psalm 51

So here you are today, Monday, ready to get into a new week, right? Well, I trust so. Anyway, well today in our Bible reading plan, we're reading in Numbers chapters 25 and 6, Luke chapter 7, and then the 51st Psalm.

I want to zero in on that 51st Psalm. As you probably know, that psalm was written by David after he was confronted by Nathan the prophet with his sin related to Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. I don't want to spend time getting into the nature of that sin.

You can go back to 1 Samuel chapter 11, or 2 Samuel 11, and you can find the details of all that. But what I want us to zero in on is a couple of things. One is that I've heard it expressed that genuine repentance isn't the result of somebody catching you in your sin.

Genuine repentance deals with the sin before you're caught. I understand what they're saying in that, because there's a lot of times where somebody says they're sorry after they've been caught over doing something, and they're not really sorry.

I understand that. But that flies in the face of Psalm 51, because in the preface to the psalm, it says that David wrote this when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Nathan the prophet didn't confront David until at least probably 10 months, maybe a year, after the sin with Bathsheba.

Because remember, the consequence of that sin is, after the confrontation, the consequence is that the baby got sick and died. The baby was already born before Nathan confronted him. What happened as a result of that confrontation?

Psalm 51. Psalm 51 is a splendid record of a truly repentant heart. It's a splendid record. Because at the end of the psalm, or near the end of the psalm, verse 17, David mentions that God doesn't want my sacrifice at this point.

He doesn't want me just to go through some motions of offering some sacrifice to deal with this sin. He says this, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These, O God, you will not despise.

What David's indicating here is, that's his heart. He has a broken and a contrite heart. I'm imagining that for the last 10 months, David has been dealing with a guilty conscience. He's been able to suppress it, he's been able to hide it, and surely he probably figured by now he got away with something, but he didn't really get away with it.

Another psalm talks about the fact that his bones were broken when he didn't confess. He's just dealing with this guilty conscience all through this time. When finally Nathan confronts him, his heart breaks, and he bows in contrition, in repentance and contrition for what he has done.

Listen to the expression of his confession. He says, have mercy on me, blot out my transgressions, verse 2 he says, wash me from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, and in verse 4 he says, against you I have sinned and done this evil in your sight.

David uses every word in the book, every word in the dictionary, to describe what he's done. Transgression against the law of God, iniquity, reflecting an evil heart, sin, a coming short of the righteous standard of God, speaking of the very character of what he's done.

Indeed, it was quite evil in the whole spectrum of his behavior, but he doesn't minimize that in any way. He acknowledges the gamut of his behavior, of his sin. What's also telling here is that he repeatedly recognizes the filth of it.

He says, wash me, blot out, cleanse me. Later on in verse 7 he says, purge me and I will be clean, wash me and I will be whiter than snow. The person who's really convicted of sin and truly repentant for that sin sees it as something very defiling.

It's more than a spot, it's a stain on his heart, on his life, and from that stain he needs to be purged, he needs to be cleansed. But here's the wonderful thing. David offered this prayer of repentance to the Lord, and the Lord forgave him.

Notice I didn't say there were no consequences for his sin. Oh, there were, and David experienced some pretty painful consequences for his sin. But as far as his relationship with God is concerned, he was forgiven and he was restored.

In fact, one of his requests in verse 12, he says, restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. The fact that David went on writing psalms and David continued serving the Lord and did so joyfully, and he never, never complained to the Lord about some of the consequences that he suffered.

He in fact recognized the legitimacy of those consequences. That's a repentant heart. The Lord granted his request, forgave him, restored him to fellowship with the Lord, gave him the joy of his salvation once again, even in enduring some of the consequences.

Are you burdened down today, feeling having a guilty conscience, recognizing that you have transgressed, you are one whose heart is filled with iniquity, you have sinned, come short of the glory of God?

There is with that God forgiveness. Go to him in repentance. Cry out Psalm 51. He will forgive. He has promised to do so. Our Father and our God, we are grateful for your gracious and merciful forgiveness.

We thank you today, Father, that we can come to you no matter how bleak, no matter how dark and how wretched our sin. We can confess it to you, truly repent of it, and find with you plenteous mercy and forgiveness.

Thank you for this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Well, listen, I hope your week gets off to a good start. Have a great day.