Psalm 51 (Wisdom in the Secret Heart, Jeff Kliewer)

Wisdom in the Secret Heart and the Need for Confession

And that we are to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching to obey everything that you have commanded. And that, Lord, I am with you till the end of the age.

That's what you teach us, Lord. And so we claim that promise right now, that you are here with us, you are in our midst. We know that that's true. We pray that you would open our eyes to see. And we pray that we would be discipled from your word in this all-important area of confessing sin.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Of all the lives in scripture that are recorded for us, I think David is probably the most examined. From the time of his childhood all the way up until his death, where we are told about the details of how he lay and a young lady was brought to him to lay beside him just to keep him warm.

But from his childhood, when he is a shepherd boy in the fields, and then as a teenager killing Goliath, and then running for his life in his twenties and early thirties, and then all the episodes that happened while he was king.

I would say his life is probably the most examined, especially when you consider that 75 of the 150 psalms are written by David. And so we get not just a biographical sketch of his life, we also get his own inner thoughts.

The imprecatory psalms that he writes, where he's calling for God's judgment, to the psalms of confession like we have here today in Psalm 51. We have David's heart laid bare for us to see. Wouldn't you love to be David?

Wouldn't that be great?

If for all of history people could look at your every thought and your every failing, and it was held up for the world to see.

Wouldn't that be great?

We should be merciful toward him. Because I think if any of us had our lives and our deepest and darkest moments put on the screen for the world to see, I think all of us would run and hide and change.

So we should be merciful to his memory, and recognize that, but for the grace of God, there go each of us. In every way that he fell short, we are also capable of those same failings and weaknesses. Consider, in the year 1035 B .C., David was born.

And scholars estimate that his kingship began right around the year 1000 B .C., when he was about 35 years old. For seven years, he reigned over the southern kingdom of Judah, and then, after Ishbosheth, try to say that name, was killed in the north, the northern part of the kingdom was offered to him as well, and so in the year 992, David became king over all of Israel and Judah.

So at that time, he was in his 40s, his early 40s. And so then he continued to reign. The ark was brought back in 992. In 982, that's when he had mercy on Mephibosheth. You remember Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul, the son of Jonathan?

That's when David reached out in mercy and extended mercy to him. And the story of David falling into sin with Bathsheba actually happens in the year 980. Did you ever stop to consider? David was 55 years old when he fell into sexual sin.

That's no spring chicken, 55 years old.

Now, we all get there.

It wasn't the sin of youthful lust. Something is going on here beyond that, and I think it's the issue of pride that had risen in his heart. So there's something deeper going on. Turn with me now to Psalm 51.

Guys, if there's a psalm to memorize, maybe not word for word, but to always remember as a place to go back to throughout the course of your life, let it be Psalm 51. Psalm 51 is David's repentance after falling into sexual sin and then into blood guiltiness, the murder of Uriah the Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba.

All of this took place, and Psalm 51 records for us David's heart laid bare before God and now here for us as a model of confession and repentance. David had fallen into sexual sin. When I was a youth pastor in Kensington, I remember very often young people asked the question, when does it get easier?

When does it get easier? The sexual temptations that they were feeling. And one young man asked a 70-year-old pastor when it gets easier, and the 70-year-old pastor said, I'll let you know. Not a comfort to this young man, but his point was it doesn't ever get easier.

I think it does. I think hormones decrease and temptations decrease. But at the same time, even if you're a 70-year-old man, you are vulnerable to fall. And the one who thinks that you're standing firm, be careful that you do not fall.

The answer to overcoming temptation is not willpower, and it's not just growing older and growing out of things. It is rather to have wisdom in the secret heart. That's what we're going to talk about today.

Wisdom in the secret heart. How do you have wisdom in the secret heart? And first of all, what is that? Anybody get a chance to listen to that song by Shane and Chain this week? He entitles it Wisdom in the Secret Heart.

I would encourage you to look that up. Shane and Chain, Psalm 51. Wisdom in the secret heart, or truth in the inward being, is a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. So this is bringing it to New Testament language.

It's a sincere and pure devotion to Christ on the inside that comes from brokenness. First of all, being broken by sin. Salvation, which is to be born again and made new to receive a new heart from God on the inside.

To have a heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh. And then developing into maturity that results in Christ's exalting speech. That's what we're going to see in Psalm 51. But let's take that piece by piece so we can really unpack that.

Because wisdom in the secret heart is the key to having victory over temptations. And it's also the key to coming back to the one who can lift us up when we fall. Psalm 51, let's begin with verse 1. And we'll read the first six verses and begin to comment.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love. According to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. So that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, you delight in truth and the inward being. And you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. First of all, the beginning of wisdom in the secret heart.

The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God.

Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. According to Proverbs 9, 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom in the heart cannot begin until we recognize how sinful we actually are. Coming to an end of ourselves in brokenness about our own sin is the starting point of wisdom.

When we begin to compare our righteousness, which is nothing but filthy rags, Compare that to the holiness of God who made heaven and earth and in whom there is no moral imperfection whatsoever. The holiness of God compared to the filthiness and the wickedness of us.

That is the starting point of wisdom. Consider some New Testament saints and how wisdom was formed in them.

Peter.

In his pride, after following the Lord for three years, he declared that he would never betray the Lord. And in the day of his testing, what happened? He denied Him three times. We're told in Luke 22, 62.

He went out and he wept bitterly. But that brokenness, that weeping, was the beginning of wisdom. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit filled him and the new reborn. He was already probably born again before being filled with the Spirit.

But at Pentecost, when he received the Spirit, the Peter that came out from that was very different from the Peter that denied Him three times. The Peter of his older years was willing to be killed with Christ.

To be crucified upside down. But he had to pass through the veil of suffering. He had to be broken before he could be built up. Wisdom in the secret heart did not begin until brokenness happened first.

Consider Paul.

1 Timothy 1, 15. Paul says, Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Of whom I am chief.

I am foremost.

He identifies himself as the chief of sinners. Paul had to come to a point in his life, blinded by the light of God. Weeping for three days in the depths. Broken because of his sin. In order to be built back up.

Consider John Mark. Raised in a Christian home. Knew Christ from a young age. Goes on a mission trip. John Mark with Paul and Barnabas. But when the going got tough, we're told in Acts 13, 13. And John left them.

And returned to Jerusalem. He had to be broken. And from the depths of that, he was later built up. So much so that in 2 Timothy 4, 11. Paul is saying, get Mark and bring him with you. For he is very useful to me.

A time of brokenness and then a time of being built back up. And as a little aside here to the young people. Growing up in a Christian home. I can testify to this myself. Walking with God from a young age.

That doesn't mean that you won't at some point fall into sin. And maybe even drift away from the Lord for a time. I think it's true that sometimes in our walk with God. There is a season of wandering.

That you go through.

At that time, you are brought to a brokenness that maybe you never knew in your childhood. There may come a time where you've fallen off into sin. And remember this day when that happens. Someday, when the weight of your sin falls upon you.

And you recognize, wait a minute. I'm just as bad a sinner as Paul was when he was killing Stephen in Acts chapter 6. So I'm just as bad as David was when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. I'm just as bad as Peter was when he denied the Lord three times.

There will come a point in your life where you feel the weight of your sin. On that day, remember the scriptures. And read Psalm 51. And remember that there is forgiveness. So let's get into the text now.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love. According to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. We read this this morning in Sunday school.

And one of the young people recognized that this stood out to them as powerful. And made a great observation that David here is not at all pleading his own righteousness. He's not comparing his good deeds that he's done in the past like killing Goliath.

And begging God to be merciful because he'd been so good. No, he throws himself entirely on God. And just asks for mercy. Mercy cannot be demanded. Mercy is to be asked for, not demanded. It's not owed to us.

So if you look at verse 1, have mercy, O God. On what grounds will God have mercy? Not on anything good in the sinner. But notice it's according to your steadfast love. The character of God. The loving kindness of God.

His benevolence. It's his characteristics that secures for us mercy.

It's all based on him.

Nothing based on us. David throws himself on the mercy of God. I was listening to Caleb the other day. And a caller called in to say that he never says I'm sorry. He just apologizes. And he began to make an argument that you don't need to say you're sorry.

You only need to apologize. Bad teaching. Apologize comes from apologia, from 1 Peter 3 .15. To make a defense, to make an argument. To apologize means you're giving a rationale, a reason for the thing that you did.

Now there is a place for that to help a person understand where you're coming from. And so it's good sometimes to apologize. But what you see here is contrition. A genuine feeling of being sorry. Notice in verse 2.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin! This is the cry of the sinner for mercy. There is a deep contrition in his heart. He is sorry for his sin. And he asks for forgiveness. That's what we're to do.

Notice that he confesses sin. And this is hard for people to do, isn't it? In our pride, one of the hardest things that we do is confess our sin. But it is absolutely necessary, first of all, to get saved.

But also to continue in your walk with God. Very often if you feel like you're not filled with the Spirit, you're not feeling God's presence, you don't feel the joy of the Lord, very often the problem is there is unconfessed sin in your life.

Confession is a central aspect of the Christian life.

Do you see this?

David is not hiding his sin any longer. Now remember, he did hide his sin for nine months. He hid his sin. And he thought everything was worked out. Uriah was dead. He's got Bathsheba as a wife. Everything is working out until Nathan the prophet came.

And called him to the carpet.

And now he is exposed. Verse 4, he recognizes who it is that he's offended. Against you, you only have I sinned. So he did sin or do wrong to Uriah and Bathsheba. But the issue here in this prayer is his relationship with God.

Against you, you only have I sinned. And done what is evil in your sight. He's not sugarcoating it.

It's evil.

So that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Brothers and sisters, if God gave us what we deserve, each one of us would be in hell. We would drop dead as soon as we sin and we would depart from him and be eternally separated.

He would be justified in that judgment. But we stand before him justified. Romans 3, we are justified by faith because God has accomplished something on our behalf. He has made propitiation for our sins.

Putting our sin upon Christ on the cross. Turning away the wrath of God. The judgment that was owed to us fell upon him and we stand justified by faith.

All of grace.

God is blameless in this.

He's justified.

And he is justified to forgive us,.

Not willy-nilly,.

Like an unjust judge who would just... I love throwing in willy-nilly in sermons, by the way. Like an unjust judge who just waves the hand and says, okay, you're forgiven.

Don't worry about it.

You committed murder, but you can go free.

Any judge who just did that would not be a just judge. He wouldn't be justified in his decision. Because what about the victims.

Who are grieving the loss of their loved one who was murdered at the hands of this killer?

How can God just willy-nilly throw that away? The answer is, he does punish sin, but he pours out that wrath on a substitute named Jesus who bears that wrath and satisfies it completely so God is both just and loving.

He's justified because his wrath has been satisfied, justice has been served, and his love is demonstrated in that that wrath was given to his own beloved son that we go free. So he's justified in his judgment.

Blameless.

Verse 5,.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. Now it doesn't say that the son who was born from Bathsheba was brought forth in iniquity, although that is also true.

Here David is saying,.

I was brought forth in iniquity. Well, Jesse and his wife, they were married and it was a godly marriage. So how was he brought forth in iniquity? Because all of us are born in Adam and Eve's sin. All of us are born with original sin that comes inherited from Adam through each of Adam's sons and their wives and on down to us through David.

He was born and sent.

Verse 6,.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being. And this is the verse that just caught my heart this week. And you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Wisdom in the secret heart. What is that? The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.

The first thing that we see in these first six verses is the wisdom of brokenness. This is a contrite heart, a heart that no longer pleads its own righteousness. It doesn't conceal sin, but the power of that sin has been broken.

Guys, when you're feeling tempted, ladies, men, women, when temptation falls on you, the power of that temptation is secrecy. It's concealment. It's the lie of the enemy. But light makes all things visible.

Here, David has come out of hiding his sin and has come into the light. And that process of coming into the light with your own darkness is very painful. Confession is very painful. We think the easy way out is to continue to conceal sin,.

To hide it.

But in the end, that results in more pain.

The hard road of confession brings you into the light, and that is the beginning of wisdom. But that's not all. It's not enough to be broken by sin. The second thing that we need... See, brokenness is like the seedbed that is ready to receive the seed.

A proud and haughty heart that doesn't see a need for God, that heart is not ready to be born again. But once you've come to that end of yourself, in repentance, recognizing that you need a Savior, here's the good news.

There is salvation.

There is a new heart.

There is a new birth.

There is a thing called the filling of the Holy Spirit that changes everything. So let's see that now. 7 through 12. Purge me with hyssop,.

And I shall be clean. I shall be clean.

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. A new heart is offered. Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36 foretold that this was coming.

In the new covenant,.

God's law is just not something out there, but now it's written on our hearts. Our hearts of stone are going to be replaced with the heart of flesh. A new work that God is able to do in the new covenant,.

Deep within us,.

To transform us from the inside, that gives us joy. Now notice in verse 7,.

There is a cleansing.

Can a sinner stand in the presence of a holy God? Yes, if we've been washed and made clean. Purge me with hyssop. Hyssop is like a purple herb, flowery kind of thing that's on a long stalk, and it was very important in the Old Testament.

In Exodus chapter 12, at Passover, they took hyssop branches because they were firm, the long stalk was firm, and they dipped it in the blood of a lamb, and they marked the doorposts,.

They painted with those,.

They turned hyssop into a paintbrush,.

And through that,.

The person inside the house was considered to be clean. And the angel of death passed over. In Exodus 24, when God is confirming the covenant, they're told to take bowls of blood,.

This is gruesome,.

Take hyssop branches and dip that in the bowls of blood,.

And sprinkle all the people,.

Thus cleansing them of their sin. You see the leper in the book of Leviticus, who comes because his leprosy has been cleansed, and he needs to be pronounced clean,. The priest will take hyssop, and some cedar wood, and actually a bird, they would take a live bird and dip that in the blood,.

And as this bird was, there's two birds,.

One would be killed,.

And that blood would be put in the bowl, and as the live bird, and the hyssop, and the wood was all put in there, there would be a sprinkling, as this bird is trying to flop its way out, people would get sprinkled by the blood.

And then, with the hyssop branch,.

They would sprinkle blood,.

And the leper,.

Who had been dirty and defiled, was now considered clean,.

And the other bird,.

I know this is a strange story, but it's in Leviticus,.

The other bird would be set free,.

Which indicates that it's now set free and clean, and goes off into the open field. The same thing would be done for mold in the house, but we won't get into that.

Hyssop.

Hyssop had a ceremonial cleansing property to it. Hyssop would be used so that the defiled person is now considered clean, and in the New Testament, we don't use hyssop branches, or cedar wood, or the blood of a lamb, or the blood of a bird.

We come to God, and we find our cleansing by the blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ. His blood shed once and for all washes us clean,.

And we are clean.

You say, wait a minute, I'm a sinner. You don't know the things I've done. Well, I'm telling you about the blood of Jesus,.

Which is stronger than your sin.

It's stronger than hyssop. It makes you lighter than snow. Wash me, and I will be clean. Don't you love that in verse 7? The hyssop is pointing us forward to a stronger cleansing agent, and that is the blood of Jesus.

Verse 8.

Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Does God break our bones?

According to verse 8, He does. David's bones were broken when that son born to Bathsheba.

Fell sick,.

And just within a few months, died. David was broken for seven days on the floor pleading for the healing of this son,.

But that son died.

According to Hebrews 12,.

When we fall into sin,.

God loves you so much.

That He will discipline you. He will break your bones. I know this doesn't sound like.

What you're going to see on TBN,.

Which promises prosperity at all times.

The truth of the scripture,.

He'll break your bones because He loves you. He won't let you continually persist in the same sin year after year, year after year. Eventually, He will break your bones to break you free from that sin.

He disciplines the one that He loves. He disciplines you because He loves you. What father doesn't discipline his son? We all know our children would run wild if never disciplined. But discipline shows that you care enough.

God cares enough. But having accomplished discipline, it now results in,.

Believe it or not, joy.

What was a painful wound when we're being crushed? When, like fire burning dross out of silver, it's painful. You come out refined and you're filled with inexpressible joy. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Now that's not the only cause of suffering,.

By the way.

Not all suffering is God breaking your bones to discipline you. Sometimes you suffer for other reasons. Job found that out. Jesus knew that better than anyone. But sometimes, suffering is discipline. Verse 9.

Hide your face from my sins. Blot out my iniquities.

Don't you love verse 10?

We need this.

Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence.

And take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Now I'm going to just quickly anger my covenant theologian friends by saying we need to understand this through a dispensational lens. Meaning in the old covenant, under a different dispensation, the Holy Spirit had a different role than he now has in the New Testament.

And what David prays under the old covenant, take not your Holy Spirit from me, was possible in a different way than it is now. When Saul was king, there were times he was so filled with the Spirit that people said,.

Is he a prophet?

Is he a son of a prophet?

And Saul would prophesy.

But later on in his life, the Holy Spirit departed from Saul and an evil spirit came over him. We see in the Old Testament, even with a great king like David, a remarkable inconsistency. A remarkable inconsistency.

You would think the man after God's own heart who wrote these 75 Psalms that speak of Christ, Psalm 110, Psalm 22,.

He was a prophet.

He really was a prophet, we're told in the book of Acts. That this prophet would be more consistent than to commit adultery against his wife and with Bathsheba.

And going beyond that.

To murder one of his own people that he loved.

Inconsistency.

Peter, before Pentecost,.

Was remarkably inconsistent. In the new covenant, according to Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, the Holy Spirit comes into us and indwells us in such a way that we are sealed and marked and guaranteed our inheritance.

And here's my belief. That as Christians, we do not have to fall into the gross sins that you see in the Old Testament. There is no such thing as Christian perfectionism. Well, those who say there is,.

That's a lie.

We will sin, according to 1 John 1.

And if anybody says they have no sin,.

They're a liar.

We still will fall into sin and we need to confess those sins and he'll cleanse us of those sins. But here's what I'm trying to say.

In the new covenant,.

With the Holy Spirit taking this stronger, Ezekiel 36, Jeremiah 31,.

Role in our lives,.

We are no longer slaves to sin. We do not have to continue in sinful patterns. The Lord can make us more consistent than David was in his life.

And this fear of David,.

In verse 11, take not your Holy Spirit from me. We do not have to fear that he would ever do that to us.

We're sealed.

We're guaranteed our inheritance. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life,.

Is in us.

And we can reckon ourselves dead to sin, alive in Christ. We can count ourselves dead,.

Buried with him in baptism,.

Raised to newness of life. And though we recognize that we're still falling short,.

We're still chief of sinners,.

We have victory in Christ. And we are to regard ourselves as more than conquerors.

Brothers and sisters,.

If you're enslaved in some kind of sin, that's not your portion. Your flesh is not stronger than the Spirit.

You can be free.

You can walk in victory. Turn to him in faith and ask him for the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome sin. Stop grieving the Spirit and walk in this newness of life, which is your inheritance. So this is the new birth.

Two things so far. One, brokenness.

Getting to the point.

Where you recognize how wicked you are in yourself. But two, salvation.

Salvation actually saves you.

It sets you free.

It gives you a new heart.

It cleans you completely from head to toe. Your sin is finished.

Now third,.

The maturity of speaking what is in your heart. I love how this psalm turns here at verse 13.

To speech.

Because out of the abundance of the heart,.

The secret heart, the mouth speaks.

Then I will teach transgressors.

Your ways.

And sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,.

O God.

O God of my salvation. And my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. That's the song of the saved. Only Christians can worship in spirit and truth. Only Christians can worship as those who have been forgiven, who know the depths of our sin,.

Yet we've been lifted out.

Only us.

We're the only ones.

Who can come to God.

With this kind of joy. The psalm of the saved. O God of my salvation. And my tongue will sing aloud for your righteousness. We sing about the righteousness.

Of Christ.

O Lord, open my lips.

And my mouth will declare.

Your praise.

For you will not delight.

In sacrifice,.

Or I will give it.

And you will not be pleased with the burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God.

Are a broken spirit.

A broken and contrite heart,.

O God.

You will not despise.

Last week while we were here.

For Easter Sunday, it was a glorious Sunday. People were born again. It was awesome. God is doing the work. And we thank God for that. We had brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka the same day that we were meeting here, Easter Sunday.

And some terrorists came and murdered through suicide bombs many of our brothers and sisters. It came out in Christianity today this week that one of the churches that was attacked was a Protestant church, Pentecostal church, Assembly of God.