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If you brought a Bible, I want to invite you to turn to Psalm 51. I get this on track before we lose the wheels here. Psalm 51. We’re going to be studying the life of David, and together we’re going through the Old Testament as a church family. And the desire is just to understand the big picture of what God has created for us, and the theme of Scripture, that we can know him better as God has revealed himself to us. We don’t want to be afraid of any part of the Bible. We know that God has given that to us so that we we can better understand him and grow in our worship towards him and enjoy our relationship with him. And so sometimes we look at the Old Testament and it looks like a mystery to us. And so this journey for us is, is helping to paint a picture of what Scripture communicates to us as individuals that we can better understand God and express that in our worship and understanding towards him. And this morning we’re studying the life of David. And if you know anything about the life of David, he if if he were a single man, he would be he would be the the man that the single ladies would want to pursue. Right? When you think about David, he was the kind of guy that could kill 100 people, make a million bucks and write on the billboards top 100 Love Songs Before breakfast.
I mean, this guy was was incredible in his giftedness and the things that the Lord had called him to do. He is he is the original, most interesting man in the world. You read in the Bible as it describes the life of David, it says that he was a shepherd boy turned king, and as a shepherd boy. You can imagine David grew up with all these other brothers. He was the the, the son of Jesse. And David would be out in, in the hills running with the sheep, and he would take his week taking care of the sheep. And then the next week, one of the other brothers would come out to relieve him. And it tells us that that David, at certain points in, in taking care of the sheep, would take on lions and bears on his own. And this is like this is pre gun days. So I couldn’t even imagine how David would be killing a lion and bear. But I could imagine I could, I could just picture this in my head as a as a brother rolling up on David after his week of, of taking care of sheep. And he’s just laying there on a bearskin rug, just gnawing away at a lion leg, like, look what I did. You know, it’s I mean, he is that kind of man that when you read the stories, it’s it’s incredible what God did through him and in his life.
So much so that the Bible even tells us in First Kings chapter two and verse 45 and throughout Scripture. It even culminates in revelation 22 and verse 16, that David’s throne would be the throne through which Christ would come, and Christ would reign on that throne forever. David’s kingdom would not end. David and being King of Israel, the second King of Israel after Saul that we looked at last week, he moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem, for which the the capital rests in Jerusalem to this day. David wrote many of the Psalms. Psalms being the worship book of of the Old Testament. Half of the Psalms are attributed to David, and maybe more so than that, there are a few that the author remains unknown, but many people think it was David. We all, we all know the famous story of David killing Goliath. I love how that story goes, because it tells us when David goes out to kill Goliath. Goliath is standing at nine feet and and David walks in at about five feet. People estimate and and he picks up five stones. And if you ever wonder why David picks up five stones, it’s because Goliath had four brothers. And so David’s thinking in his head, okay, after I take out chief here that I’ve got to worry about his brothers coming up behind him and backing them up. Right. And so I’m not just picking up one stone from this creek.
I’m taking. I’m taking four and or four more, and we’re I’m taking the whole family out of, if need be. Uh, for for emphasis sake. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen this in in in the VeggieTales show, but when, when when it talks about David killing Goliath. I like to picture like this, you know, it’s Goliath. Got more of my voice this morning laughing at Israel and the big burly voice. And then David. David comes in there and he’s still a young boy. He walks in like pre-pubescent stage and he’s like, I come on behalf of Israel, you know, and he just slaughters Goliath and everyone’s thinking, what’s going what is going on with this kid? What is what is God doing? David. Accomplished great things for the Lord. You know, all the things that David was able to accomplish. I think the remaining reason as to why God was able to move through the life of David to see these great things take place, happens in first Samuel 1314. We looked at this last week when Samuel was coming before Saul and. Samuel was saying to Saul that God’s about to rip your kingdom away from you, Saul, you’re the first king of Israel, but you didn’t pursue the Lord. For for the Lord you pursued the Lord for what the Lord would give you, but not because your heart desired the Lord. And so Samuel said this to Saul. He said, but now your kingdom shall not endure.
The Lord has sought out for himself a man after his own heart. And the Lord has appointed him as a ruler over his people. Because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. When it talks about the life of David, it tells us that the Bible then went out to find this man, that God desired to be the king over Israel. And as he’s looking for this king over Israel, it tells us that Samuel goes to all the house of Jesse, and he can’t find the one that the Lord had appointed him to. He knows that God had directed him to the life of Jesse. And he went through all these brothers, and and he still couldn’t find who it is that God wanted to anoint as king. And finally Jesse says, well, we have our youngest boy. He’s out in in the woods with the sheep sitting on a bearskin. You can go find him. Right. And and so it says in first Samuel 16 seven but the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance talking about the brothers of David. Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For God sees not as a man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. When unique things that set David apart for the service of the Lord, for the nation of Israel, is that David’s desire was to praise God foremost in his life.
Of all the things that made David such a great man, the thing that set David apart wasn’t the accomplishments that he made. Was that David was a man after God’s own heart. David desired what the Lord desired. And David sought after God with his life. Unfortunately, the Bible also tells us in the life of David that David wasn’t always good at that. That David, even at certain points, faltered into sin. Our hearts are prone to wonder from the Lord. Maybe if you haven’t heard the story of David and Goliath, or if you had. The second famous story that’s told about David is is the sin that happens with Bathsheba, the name that just rolls up on the tongue. If you ever meet a girl named Bathsheba, run. Right. That’s the moral of the story. The story goes like this. It kind of just sets this, this tone in second Samuel chapter 11. Then it happened in the spring at the time when kings go out to battle. David stayed in Jerusalem. It sort of gives this dun dun dun. You know, whatever’s about to happen here isn’t good. All the kings are out in battle, and David in the springtime stays in his kingdom. And the story tells us that David goes on to the roof of the kingdom, and it was typical for people to go out and bathe.
And David, from the top of his, the roof of his kingdom, could see down into the streets below, and he notices this lady that catches his eye. Bathsheba. And it leads David to an area of his life that he begins to lust. It leads David into area of his life that after he lost, he then invites Bathsheba into his home because he knows that her husband, Uriah, is out fighting the battles in the fields where David should be. The Bible tells us that David commits adultery. Then, after committing adultery, that Bathsheba becomes pregnant. Discovering that Bathsheba is pregnant to hide his sin, David then decides to order the commanders of his army to put Uriah in a position in battle, where he would be killed. David murders Uriah. And the chapter 12 of second Samuel then carries with us a story of a prophet named Nathan. Nathan knows what David’s done. So it tells us this thought that when we send, sometimes we have the tendency of thinking that our sin may not affect other people around us. But but truthfully, the Lord always knows. And David’s conducted the sin and he’s tried to cover it up and the Lord knows. And so he sends this prophet Nathan to visit David. And Nathan walks in. I love the way that Nathan handles the situation. He doesn’t just run in and just yell at King David. They’re their friends and Nathan cares about David. And so he starts with a story he says.
He says there’s there’s a rich ruler in this city who has multiple animals that he’s he’s caring for. And then there’s this, this man of, of low income in the city. And he’s got just one animal, and a visitor comes into the city, and he’s coming to visit this ruler. And and rather than take from his own sheep to feed this visitor, the the ruler then decides to take from this lowly man who has just one animal, and slaughter that animal and offer it to the visitor. What do you think about that? David? And David said, well, who is this man? Let’s let’s find him right now and punish him for what he’s done. And Nathan said. It’s you. You’ve done that. And there’s moments, David then begin to realize my sin is not covered. It’s the fact that the lives of those around me, and most importantly, it’s affected me with my relationship with the Lord. David being a man after God’s own heart. Still went through trials. In the middle of this experience with Bathsheba, David actually wrote about it. You got your Bibles in the Psalm chapter 51. If you were to look at Psalm chapter 51, at the very top of that, that Psalm, it gives it gives the direction that this is a psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. And so Psalm 51 says to us, in being a man after God’s own heart, David, how can you pursue God in that relationship when when God seems so distant from you? You ever been in that place? In your life.
Things are going well and life seems good and you’re connecting to God. But all of a sudden, this uh oh moment happens where? Where you’ve fallen flat on your face and you just feel emotionally just so distant from everything in this world, and you just want to crawl in a hole and die, and you don’t even know if God cares about you anymore. How can you be a man after God’s own heart? Or a woman after God’s own heart. I love the Book of Psalms and the Book of Psalms. You have over 150 Psalms, and and the idea of the Book of Psalms is it’s it’s nothing but worship songs for Israel to express their heart before God. And so Psalms for us is is man’s response to God. Man, if you ever get in a place in your life where you just feel distant from the Lord, the Book of Psalms is a beautiful place to turn to. It’s a it’s a real hashing out and and a wrestling with us towards God and expressing how we feel towards him and worshiping. The Lord. And David and all that he goes through in his life and the triumphs and in the failures. He he frequently writes these psalms for Israel as an expression of his heart, that Israel may engage in worship with him as well.
Psalms is a very expressive worship book. Most of this book was written starting with with Moses, I think, Psalm 90 and 91. Moses was the first to write in the 15th century, all the way to about the sixth century, right after the Babylonian captivity. This this book of Psalms spans 900 years of Israel’s history. Most of it is is written during the lifetime of David, and. And most of that is written by David himself, just to express that relationship with God. And when David gets to this difficult place with his relationship with the Lord because of his sin with Bathsheba, it brings him to a place to answer the question of being a man after God’s own heart. When life seems difficult and God seems distant, how do we still worship the King of Kings? How do we still grow in that relationship with him? And so, David, in the expression of, of his life and the moments of turmoil turns, and in Psalm 51 and verse one, he says this, be gracious to me, O God. According to your loving kindness. According to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgression. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. As you approach the Psalm, you think of, of the magnitude that that David is bringing in his authority and position to this psalm, that David being a man after God’s own heart, the first thing that he recognizes in his life is, is that he is not the ultimate authority of his life that God is.
Perhaps one of the beautiful things of the backdrop to this Psalm. That we’re not just talking about a regular person here. We’re talking about a king. You know, the tendency of kings during the time of David, and I would say even today, would be so proud of their accomplishments that they would want everyone to know about their accomplishments. But historically, when a when something negative would happen in the life of a king or a king would go into battle against another army and he would lose that battle. Do you know when it came to history, nothing was recorded about that loss from that king’s perspective. Why? Because it was a shame to him. Let’s not talk about those things. Let’s sweep it under a rug and talk about the glorious things that I’ve accomplished. Go back to Goliath. Let’s sing that song one more time. But here in this passage, we have the King of Israel that has risen to such great power among the world. And this king, so humble in his life, admits before God that God, even though I may look at myself as something great in the midst of of my sin, I recognize God. I am not the ultimate authority, but Lord. Rather, I’m under your authority.
This king is so humble in his walk with God that he openly confesses his sin. Could you could you imagine if you were to write this Psalm this morning, if you were to say, David, at all the things that you did in your life, what what was the worst thing? God’s going to inspire someone to write it. So I’ll go ahead and tell you it’s Bathsheba, right? David, how would you feel about just expressing that to the entire nation? How would you feel? And someone went to the back of your closet, to the darkest secrets that you desire to hide and just expose that. When you think of the humility of David in this passage. Not only am I bringing this before the Lord, not only do I recognize his authority, but but I publicly have conducted this sin. And so I’m publicly going back before the nation of Israel. And I’m just saying, guys, I’m getting my heart right. It’s. It’s not my authority that reigns. It’s his. We saw this last week in government, didn’t we? Government doesn’t get to choose what’s morally right and wrong. God does that. And David sang to the people. Listen. Well, what I did was choose between right and wrong and set myself up in a position that only God possesses. And so before you, I’m confessing. David, a man after God’s own heart, just willingly comes before the ultimate authority who is God. And and not only that, David in this position and openly confessing he, he allows people to speak into his life.
Nathan confronts David. You think? You think during the Time of Kings, if you were to come before a king and tell him something that he was doing wrong, the response of that king. Before you got out of that room, you would do so without your head. But David invited someone into his life to communicate where he had erred in his relationship with God. He lowered himself under the authority of the Lord, and he was willing to listen. See, David recognizes for us as people that there is a constant battle in our lives, and that battle is this between our will and God’s. We struggle to take hold of our lives as if we are the ultimate authority, rather than trusting in the one who is. Rather than recognizing what God desires, is better for my life than any desire that I have. We rip God’s will from, from, from him, and we make it our own. Psalm in the book of Matthew in chapter six and verse nine, Jesus and teaching us how to pray, says, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be your name, or sacred is your name. God and your kingdom come, your what will be done? There is this battle between us and God to say, God, I see what you’re saying. But for me, in this situation, it makes more sense to listen to me.
So you listen to me. David opening the psalm recognizes a man after God’s own heart. The desire should be to come to God as the ultimate authority. First Peter four two says, live the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for the lusts of men, but rather for the will of God. Meaning we rest in the truth, that whatever God desires for us is far greater than our own personal agenda. The emphasis of the New Testament continually reminds us that the desire for God in our lives is us, to to meet him daily and surrender ourselves to him. Galatians 516 says, walk in the spirit or or literally surrender to the spirit. In John 1614, it tells us that the Spirit of God will magnify Jesus in our life. In Romans 12 one and two, it says that that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice on him. In second Corinthians 318 it says, as you gaze upon the face of God, he transforms you moment by moment into his image. In order to be a person after God’s heart. God’s desire is that we listen to him as the authority of our lives. And so then David says this in Psalm 51 and verse 3 to 6, he he gets into the theology of of why he chose to live in sin. It says, for I know my transgressions, my sin is ever before me against you, and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you speak, and blameless when you judge.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being and the hidden part. You will make me know wisdom. David is saying this. God, my heart’s prone to wonder. See, David understands that the thing that distances God, our relationship to God is sin. The thing that that destroys us in our walk with God and living out our life for God is is sin. And David says in this passage that he was born in sin, that he was conceived in sin. People come to verse five and they ask, what is it? What does it mean that David was conceived in sin? Did did some did David his mother, have him out of some form of, of sinful nature? And and the answer is no. What David is saying when he was conceived in sin is that the sin nature that all of humanity possesses is in David as much as it is in us. Meaning, when you look at the life of David, the same thought that David carried toward Bathsheba, it could be the same thought that we carry towards women, guys or ladies towards men, that I would say, if you looked at the life of David, David, do you think that your lust would have led to adultery? He said no.
Do you think your adultery would have led to murder? He said no. Where did it all start? The wanderings of his heart. So the thought goes like this. If if David, a man after God’s own heart. Could sin against God. And he could do such gruesome sins against God. Where does that leave the rest of us? All of us have the ability to sin. And, given the right circumstances, the most gruesome of sins. Because all of us possess that same nature. The Apostle Paul wrote it this way in Romans seven. For the good that I want. I do not do. But I practice the very evil that I do not want. You think of David and Paul? Say that. Where does it leave my own heart? Jeremiah, a prophet after the Lord, who served the Lord faithfully in the most difficult of circumstances, then said this about himself the heart is deceitful above all things. And he goes on and says, and desperately wicked, who can know it? Saying it even astounds me in the darkness that I allow my heart to go. David recognizes God’s authority, but he also recognizes. The ultimate enemy against surrendering his life to God, which is his own sin nature. The heart is deceitful. And we as people can be conceived in sin. The reason we feel distant to God is related to sin. Whether it be our own connection to the Lord or someone else who has offended us.
Seeing darkness lived out in this world. Allows us to feel distant from our Lord. David says in this passage that he was conceived in sin. So he’s saying it’s no, it’s no shocker when I do dumb things. When I respond in a negative way in this world, or when I do things in the world, it’s not biblical to say, you know, I don’t know. That wasn’t me. I’m the guy that always does good things. I don’t know who that was over there. Well, David is saying is that was me. To the good and the bad. That’s all me. And when it’s the bad, the reason that it’s the bad is because my heart has wandered from the one who has called me to be set free. And David recognizes his enemy. Which is himself in his own nature. Man. After God’s own heart recognizes God’s the ultimate authority, he recognizes that the sin nature is his enemy. But in verse 7 to 12 of Psalm 51, then David goes on to explain the the crux of the idea how, how in our distance we can feel close to God and we can draw near to God. And he says this, purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which 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 steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit. David, at the beginning of this passage in verse seven starts talking about the hyssop. The hyssop has all sorts of imagery in the nation of Israel. The hyssop was used for medicinal purposes for Israel. They they would often use it for to treat different wounds or ailments. And so medically it was thought of as a, as a healing agent. But in addition to that, the hyssop was used for the sprinkling of blood, of the sacrifice of animals, for the remission of sins, for the nation of Israel. When they took an animal to the altar, they had hyssop with them. To sprinkle the blood. And David’s thinking about his need before the Lord. And he’s saying, God, just. Just like I see the beauty of that hyssop being expressed for the medical cleansing of people and the sacrifice and the cleansing that happens through it. God, I’m praying that that same instrument, the way it’s used, you, would come to me as an instrument being used for you and God. You would cleanse me in that. David says in verse eight, an expression of his sin, the way that he feels before God. He says, make me hear joy.
Let let the bones which you have broken rejoice. He’s saying, God, this, this sin, this, this darkness that I feel in my relationship with you. God, it’s it’s hovering so real in me that I am feeling it in my inmost being. Got deep within my soul. God I want so cleansed from this whiter than snow. And so David gets to verse ten, and he and he kind of gives the crux of what all of Psalm 51 is about. Says, God, create in me a clean heart. And renew a steadfast spirit within me. David doesn’t just look at the fruit of sin. He also gets to the root of sin. We do dumb things and we do sinful things. Not by accident. Rather out of expression of our heart. That’s an indication of the need that we have for the Lord in our lives. God I lost it. Not because I lusted, but I lusted because my heart was directed towards wickedness and God. I covered it up. Not not because it was good for me, but my heart was inclined to wickedness. Yeah, look at this passage of Scripture. And I look at this verse as it relates to the life of David, and I’m so thankful for it. I have this preconceived idea, I think, within my own nature as a human being, just to automatically begin to think religiously. And I would look at a verse like this and I would say, you know, the opposing thought to this, that religion, what it what it often teaches me to do internally is just to hide my sin and guard my heart from God.
You know, I did this, but let’s hurry up and nail it in the coffin and bury that sucker so I can get on with with the rest of my life. But what David teaches in this passage is, is not to hide your sin or to cover up your heart, but rather to expose it and confess it and open your heart to God. The Bible tells us to be concerned with our heart, but not from the Lord. It says in Proverbs 423, guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the wellsprings of life. I mean, there are good things for your heart. There are bad things from your heart. But in Mark 12 it says, love the Lord your God with all of your heart. Meaning in the wickedness of your heart, what God desires is for us to turn it to him. And to offer it to him. David says something interesting, and in the 11th verse he says, do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. I get to this verse and I would tell you as individuals that this is a particular statement that I think is more relative to the Old Testament than it is to the New Testament. Bible tells us that when Jesus became the sacrifice for our sins, that he said it was finished and immediately there was an earthquake in the land, and the the temple shook and the veil was torn.
The holy of holy place. This is where the Shekinah glory, the presence of God dwelt. The Spirit of God dwelt. And the indication to the nation of Israel was to say this and to the rest of the world, that no longer would God’s Spirit dwell within the temple, but rather he would dwell within us. It says in first Corinthians 316 and 619 that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells within you. It tells us in Ephesians chapter one and verse 13 and 14 that you are sealed with the spirit for the day of redemption. That God’s Spirit is marked within you, and you belong to him, and you are able to engage him in worship wherever you are. Because of the sacrifice of Christ. In the Old Testament. When the Spirit of God would move, it would move through different periods, at different times through individuals. And Christ sacrifice hadn’t been fulfilled yet. So the Spirit of God didn’t permanently indwell the followers of God. But when the New Testament came and indwelled everyone. Pursued after Jesus and gave their life to him. David says in this verse, God, don’t cast your spirit from me, but rather this restore me to the joy of your salvation, which is what our desire is.
You know when I say, expose your heart to God and confess your sin to God, the religious side of me wants to hide it and bury it and not acknowledge it, and pretend like that was never me, and then turn a blind eye to it and put on a mask and pretend like I am perfect, right? And I can live up to the standards of perfection. And so when you say something like and reveal your heart to God and an intimacy towards him, be honest to God. Now, I would say that would be a bad idea if God would respond to that in a negative way. Do not do that. If you know the response from God is to just come in with vengeance and justice and wreak havoc on your life. I would be afraid. The Bible tells us in first John chapter one and verse nine it says, if we confess our sins. He’s faithful and righteous. Some translations say just. It’s the same Greek word. He’s faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God is faithful. You hear that? If we confess, God gives you a promise. He is faithful. He is faithful to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. God promises that. Listen, if you open your heart to the Lord and the time that you feel most distant from him, in a time that you may even feel you blown it so bad that you don’t deserve God’s presence.
If if you come to him with that heart of just confession. God is faithful. He forgives and he cleanses. I love the way that John writes first John, because first John is intended for the believers. Listen, John is not talking about salvation here. What John’s talking about is our relationship to God on a daily basis once we put our faith in him. I mean, he even tells us, if you just looked at verse eight previous to this, if it says, if we say in verse eight and verse ten, if we say that we we do not sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Meaning God knows our hearts are prone to wonder. But God then gives this promise in between verse eight and verse ten to believers saying, And God desires that relationship with you. If it was merited by your favor, Jesus would have never given his life anyway. Because it was impossible for us to merit God. James says it this way in his book in in verse four or chapter four and verse eight, he says, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. And I would stop there and say, okay, and God’s talking about the good ones, right? I mean, not not me. I’ve blown it, not David, he’s blown it, not not Paul. He killed Christians, only the good ones he’s talking about.
But then he goes on and says, cleanse your hands, you sinners. And purify your hearts, you double minded. Wait a minute. The the person that James is addressing here are not the people who don’t feel like they need God, but the very ones who know that they fall on their face and want to draw near to God. Draw near to God, and the promise is this he will draw near to you. Especially for those who feel like they’ve blown it. Especially for those who know that they need it. When you look at the life of Jesus. Jesus was the man whose company, according to scripture, was the drunkards and sinners. That’s what it says. Tax collectors are the IRS and the drunkards and the sinners. That’s what it says. And I’m thinking, sweet, I’m in. Right? Yes. And that’s what James is saying. And that’s what First John is saying, and that’s what Psalm 51 is saying. We’ve said in the past, God didn’t come to make good men great. God came to bring dead men to life. We don’t transform our heart. Jesus does. David comes to Psalm 51 and verse ten, and he gives just, just the, the thought that he’s carrying in all of the Psalms, he’s expressing himself. God, create in me a clean heart and renew in me a steadfast spirit. How would come to James 48, in the midst of my life, when I feel distant from God, or I’m struggling with particular things in, in my life or, or someone has done something to me and, and God just feels so distant and and I just look at this and I just say this promise.
If I draw near to him, he promises he will draw near to me. It doesn’t matter the past because God has created you for relationship to him. And so David expresses this thought, and he gets to Psalm 51 and verse 13 and he says this. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to you. Deliver me from Bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation. Then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness. Oh Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise. See, David is saying once, once people see how miraculous God you can intervene in my life in the midst of the things that I’ve done, how great it becomes for my opportunity to to rejoice over you. And God just share the good things that you’ve done. Oh, the pics down there. God moving me. And this psalm just annihilates religious thinking towards God. In thinking about this Psalm, Come to David. And could you imagine if you just asked the question, David, David, what is your goal? What are you after with this Psalm? Is your desire to not sin? Is that your goal? And David would look at this passage and and express to himself he would just simply say, no way.
My my goal is never about not sinning. That’s religious thinking. You get this system of rules and you find out what you need to do, and you need to avoid all the bad things. So God’s happy with you, right? Just go away from all of that. Look how good I am at not doing those things. David would say that’s not my goal at all. My my goal is just to pursue the heart of God. I am a man after God’s own heart. And here’s the understanding for us who walk with Jesus, who know that the Spirit of God indwells us, it’s that it’s not by our power we defeat sin or do the good things in this world anyway. It’s by his. By surrendering our hearts to God, we allow God to work in our hearts and then through our lives. What David is saying in this passage is, is not that he’s going to do these things in verse 1314 and 15 by by his own power of the things that he’s done. But he’s but he’s doing these things because he’s pursuing that relationship with God, and God is restoring that relationship with him. It’s not about not sinning. It’s about Jesus. The focus of the psalm isn’t about what you’re not doing or doing, it’s about who you are pursuing. The second thought is this. In verse 16 and 17 David says this. For you.
Do not delight in sacrifice. Otherwise I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite spirit. Excuse me. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. So it’s as if David is toying with his thought. My relationship with God is marred. Sin has caused God to feel distant from me. Should I go to the temple and make sacrifice to cover it up? Should I start doing all of these things that are good to outweigh the bad? This is if David is saying this passage. That’s not what God desires. What God really needs is your heart. These sacrifices, Lord, you don’t desire, but rather the sacrifice of a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart that that is your desire. When we come before God, we don’t come before God with hands full of all the things that we’re offering him. God, I messed up or God, I didn’t do what I was supposed to do. So, Lord, I’m going to bring all these things and say, look, look how good, look how good I am, right? They say it’s not what God wants. So we come before the Lord. The way that God desires is, is just to come humbly with nothing in your hands. Because it wasn’t by your works that ever earned his grace to begin with. It was always by his, and it’s never by your strength that your heart is transformed by the Lord.
It’s always by his. And so David says in this passage to us that what God desires for us is not for us to just replace all of our sin with doing good, because we can live a life like that, and God would never communicate with our heart. What God desires is your heart. And so David writes this passage of the psalm to say, listen, guys, I’ve toyed with this religious thinking just like you, but the thing that draws me near to God is not do better and try harder. It’s come to Jesus that he may transform the wickedness within me because I was conceived in sin, but Jesus transforms me. As a matter of fact, when you read Hebrews ten, it says it like this. By this will we all have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. Meaning, when you think about the sacrifice that Jesus made for your life, it’s not about just just your past. When Jesus sacrificed his life for you, he covered everything you would ever do. Jesus covered it all, and so there’s no need to make another sacrifice before the Lord, because Jesus has become the ultimate sacrifice for all of it.
Because God desires that relationship with you. And David knows it. And so on. The back end of the thought of just purifying his heart before the Lord, he he ends it with this thought in Psalm chapter 51 and verse 18. But your favor. Do good by your favor. Do good to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then young bulls will be offered on your altar. Meaning God, it does no good to do all these things for you when our relationship isn’t even right. But God, when when you come into my heart, when you transform my life, when I confess my sins. God, and you’re faithful and just to forgive my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness, and that relationship is stored, then the joy of my heart is then to go out into this world and proclaim your name and do good things on behalf of you. Not so that I earn your favor, but because I have your favor through through the grace that’s come to me in Christ. David concludes the psalm by saying, listen, there is a place for doing good things with God, and there is a place of doing good things for God. But that place always begins with having that right heart in the Lord. You cannot fabricate it. You cannot force it. You can’t even bring things to God to make him give it to you.
By his grace, he offers it to you. And so when you come to him, you come before the Lord with empty hands, because of the sacrifice that he made for you as being sufficient enough. And when God seems distant from you, we come with empty hearts and empty hands, understanding and knowing in our lives that we are conceived in sin and our hearts are prone to wander. But we can say to God, God, create in me a clean heart, and renew within me a steadfast spirit. We can live. We can live in James four eight draw near to God and he will draw near to you, especially especially when our hearts are prone to wonder if we were to think through the pattern of that Psalm this morning, we would say this God, it’s your authority that counts, not mine. God helped me to walk humbly enough before you to recognize that when I fall to you, I must come. God, as I live to you, I must come. And God. It’s not shocking to me when I live in such foolish ways in this world, but God encouraged me in my heart to expose myself to you and surrender my heart and confess my failures before my God, because I live in this promise, Lord, that you are faithful to forgive, because you desire that relationship with me. And it’s only by your grace that I may experience it.
And God is that grace is made known in my life. And as your forgiveness is as given to me because of of what I’ve done, God helped me in that. Just to proclaim your glory forever. Having looked at the life of David and seeing the way that David lived his life, and seeing even in his failure, the Bible still calls David a man after God’s own heart. I would say this. The mark of a good man or a woman isn’t in what they accomplish. But it’s rather in where they center their heart. You look at the life of the people, the Old Testament, and you see the great things being communicated in their lives on behalf of the Lord. It wasn’t because they were miraculous people. It was because of where they centered their heart. If God feels distant to you encouragement this morning, let’s go through the Psalms, maybe even Psalm 51, and just see the expression that people carry before God and live in the promise of knowing that if you draw near to him, you will draw near to you. It’s not about what you do. It’s about rather where you go. Don’t let religion allow you to live in the lie of hiding yourself from God to prove your worth to him, but rather expose your heart to him by your power. Your life is never transformed before the Lord anyway, but rather by his. It’s his spirit that speaks to us and works through us for his glory. And in that grace, we get to proclaim his name forever.