Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.pcbc.nz/sermons/56292/repent-from-sin-return-to-god-psalm-51/.

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[0:00] Good afternoon. I actually tried to preach this psalm during the first quarter, during the sermons for psalms, but I didn't have time for it.

[0:15] So Pastor William said, I'm actually going away for retreat, preaching in Levin, and you can come to preach this time. And I was able to preach this psalm 51, which other congregations have also learned together.

[0:34] So I think we all know about the psalm. Thank you for reading it for us. Now I think if in our home you have this, have you actually came across this before in your home?

[0:49] A clock drain. What do you do? What happens? Sometimes it can cause a lot of smells, it can be nuisance, it can be messy. Okay, what do you do? You get a plumber, right?

[1:05] But what happened to this? A clock artery. It happened to somebody in our church, one of the deacons. He almost died that night.

[1:17] And the doctor said, just as well, you came early enough. You could have died. So how many arteries do we have? Venus, how many arteries do we have?

[1:29] Doctor? Well, if you block one or two, you know, it can be life-threatening. So what do you do? You have clogged artery. You go to find a cardiologist.

[1:41] But what happens if we have a clogged spirit? What happens?

[1:53] And who do we go to? If we have a clogged spirit, we won't be functioning as even devastating, even more devastating, even though we're still kind of living, but we're kind of dying inside.

[2:11] So we go to the Lord of life. We go to Jesus. So the Psalm 51 we have just read, okay, is something, you know, Psalms speaks for us.

[2:26] You know, some commentators about the Bible said, you know, a lot of the scriptures speak to us. But Psalms somehow speaks for us, especially these kind of confession Psalms, you know.

[2:40] And in this Psalm here particularly, the Psalm has really declared that we are all vulnerable to sin. And it devastates, and that sin devastates our well-being.

[2:54] But yet, when we come to God, come to Jesus, all can be pardoned. You know the songs that we have sung before? You know, thank you, Julian.

[3:05] It was with purpose that we kind of arranged that, you know. We come to a God who's holy, but we're sinful.

[3:16] But when we come to Him, He's able to, He's willing, He's able to cleanse away our sins. And this is good news. And this is why, you know, we can really sing, God, you've been so good to me.

[3:29] You've been very, very good to me. It's not just because He blesses us with material stuff. Because He blesses us. He pardons our sins. He knows how terrible we are.

[3:41] But yet, He loves us. And His blood can cleanse away our sins. And this is the gospel, you know. And it won't change.

[3:54] So whenever we come, we come to Him, confess our sins. Our sins can be forgiven. So this passage, this psalm speaks to us, encourages us that we can come to confess and repent of our sins.

[4:10] I'll give you time to come, to think, and to calculate some of our sins and things, the wrongdoings that we do, okay. And repent before Him later on after the sermon.

[4:21] And we can be sure that all these can be forgiven. I tell you, because I'm one of them. I often write down my sins and things that I do wrong and ask God, Lord, I lay before you.

[4:38] Please forgive me. Even as a pastor for many years, you know, you and I, we're flesh and blood. We have wrongdoings. But we come to God.

[4:49] We come to Jesus. He's willing to pardon my sin. And we can continue to follow Him. You know, a good Christian is not someone that, who would never sin.

[5:01] Tell me, who have never sinned in this room? No, I didn't raise up my hand. All right. All right. Nobody never sinned.

[5:13] And everybody sinned, more or less every day. from this morning to now, how many wrongdoings have I done, have I said, have I thought? And, but we can come.

[5:26] We can come to Jesus. And, and, and, when we come to confess our sins, it's not, it's not like, um, just clean, just cleaning my, my, my own self.

[5:38] It's not like unclogging the drain, or unclogging the arteries. It's not, it's not just the benefit for myself. It's something, you know, my sin-filled life, displeases God, causes the Holy Spirit, spirit to grief.

[5:55] And, because of him, that we come, and confess, we ask him, to cleanse away my sin. I remember, when I was a teenager, I was, I came to New Zealand, when I was about 13.

[6:08] So, I was 14, 15, you know, teenagers, you know, rebellious, and I, I got into, you know, trouble with my mom. So, I had no one to, kind of, to turn to.

[6:19] I just, kind of, hung out with, some of the heavies, in school, you know. You don't want to get bullied, so you try to, you join into the heavies, to bully people, right? Anybody done that here?

[6:32] Who are the heavies here? Alright? So, so, you know, what do you do? You know, when you try to look heavy, you know, what do you do? You smoke.

[6:43] Right? So, I kind of, took, I learned, I kind of learned to smoke, in a way. And, yeah, in Dunedin, you know, so cold in the winter, and, you know, you smoke a bit, and you kind of, make you warm, kind of felt warm, but really, you don't, really.

[7:01] Yeah. So, one night, one afternoon, when I kind of, went back, went back home from school, I was smoking, and talking to some friends, you know, and, and, and, it was, round the block from, where my, where my, our shop was.

[7:15] I didn't know, my sister was there. He, I don't know why, why he went out, all the, the, the end of the block, and trying to look for something, buy something, and around the corner, I saw Sandra, Auntie Sandra, and I was kind of, I just had a sniff, you know, and, and I just, and, and, you know what, I didn't know how to, let, let out those, those, those smokes, you know, and I was trying, and that was, that kind of embarrassment, and that kind of, because I didn't want to cause her to grieve, because, I respected her a lot.

[7:51] It's kind of like that, you know, we come to ask God, to forgive my sin, because, and it's not because, of making me feel better, or making my spiritual life cleaner, it's about God.

[8:07] He doesn't like to see us, to be filled with sin, and because, we don't want to grieve Him, so we come, and confess. So, this psalm, is, it belongs to, it's kind of a lament, okay, it belongs to the, number three, the lament, it's about, it's an individual kind of a lament, asking God to forgive, asking God to help us, about, lamenting about our sins, the things that we, we do wrong, so, and the beginning, of this, of this, psalm, it has little words, in, it says, for the director of music, a psalm of David, when the prophet, Nathan, came to him, about David, had committed adultery, with Bathsheba, but, as you read, there was nothing in the psalm, says anything about that, but, but this incident, was recorded, in 2nd Samuel 11, was it really,

[9:11] David, who composed this, after he, had, you know, been rebuked, by, by prophets, and he really felt, sorry, and guilty, and asking God, to forgive, could have been, but nothing in the psalm, said anything like that, this is what I said, you know, even though, we don't know, the detail, of the psalm, of the real background, at that time, and God uses, these, sort of, not, not, very clear, description, and, and, and the psalm, actually, speaks, for us, you know, if we sin, we feel, very guilty, and we, I don't know, I can't even, forgive myself, now, the psalm, the verses in the psalm, really speak for us, so let's have a look, at the psalm, as, I'll divide it, into three categories, one is, it describes, the sin, that is, undoubt, and verse three, says, my sins, are always, before me, and I know, my transgressions, you know, when, how, how would you feel, we are haunted, or we are, we are gripped, by the wrong things, that we do, you know, you wake up, in the middle of the night, oh,

[10:38] I shouldn't have said that, I shouldn't have done that, oh, what a mess, that I have, that I have, caused, oh, how, how, how, how much, I have hurt, my, my good friends, what, what, there's nothing I could do, to, to, amend that, you know, have we, have we ever done, have we ever, ever came across this before, I have, I remember, when I was, living, in, Wontree Hill, before I went back to Hong Kong, I'd done something, really, really bad, I couldn't even forgive myself, and I had to walk, that Cornwall Park, every day, for about three or four rounds, round, right outside, I walked, and walked, and walked, and asked God, please forgive, and somehow, it's not, it was not, God wasn't willing to forgive, it was me, it was the guilt, it was that, that, I couldn't, kind of, come out of that, have we ever, come across that, horrible, and, verse four, and 11, it says that, only you, only, only you, that I sin against, and the psalmist knew, it's this separation, that sin would separate us, from God, when I sin, no matter,

[12:00] I sin against someone, I sin, do something wrong, I directly, sin against God, that's why, he prayed, in verse 11, do not cast me, from your presence, or take your Holy Spirit, from me, because he knew, that sin, will annihilate, himself from God, and he asked, for the mercy of God, please, please, please do not forsake me, please, please do not take away, your Holy Spirit, from me, now let's not, establish this theology, of the Holy Spirit, just with this verse, okay, and we know, the Holy Spirit, will not depart from us, right, we know, that Jesus said, the new, the counselor, will come, and he will be, always with you, okay, but this is an Old Testament, of the expression, of that fear, of sin, that could separate, himself from God, okay, and really, sin, can be devastating, now remember, remember, when Jesus, was hung, hang on the cross, okay, what did he say, he prayed to father, and in, in Matthew, it used, the Aramaic, it was a, it said,

[13:26] Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, what did he mean, it mean, my God, my God, do not, forsake me, he was, he was, he was, he was, he was, he was, bearing the, the whole, of the, the sin, of the whole, human race, and he was, and because of the sin, that was, bore on Jesus, father, had to turn, away from him, and for Jesus, that was, that was, devastating, Jesus was not, fearing about, the physical, pain, or death, Jesus was, really, really scared, of the separation, from his father, that's why, he, in Gethsemane, he was, was struggling, was not struggling, about going to the cross, nothing, for him, there was nothing, but the worst, of the, of the thing was, the separation, from his father, because he was, bearing the sin, of the whole, human race, so, when we are, when we commit sin, you know, sin will separate us, from God, and, and the result, joyless, in verse 8, please, let me hear, joy, and gladness, let my bones, you crushed, rejoice, you know, in that, the result of, of fearing, of annihilation, from God, will be no joy, you know, apart from God, there is no joy, you can, you can have, you can indulge, in, in, in, in, the pleasure of sin, but that's not joy, you can, drunk, you can have hangover, the next day, but, you, we have no joy, and, 18 to 19, it also says, that, when we sin, we have, we can affect others, in verses 18, and 19, the psalmist prayed, may it be pleased to you, to, to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem, then you will delight, in the sacrifices of the righteous, and burn offerings, offered whole, then, and bulls, and will be offered, on your altar, you know, when, when, when I first read that,

[15:53] I, I felt that, the verses 18, and 19, does not fit, in the rest, of the psalm, what's it got to do, you know, the offering, of the bull offerings, and things in Jerusalem, got to do with him, then I realized, because he was the king, right, and he was the leader, of the nation, and because of his sin, God may not, not, may not, definitely not, will not accept, the offerings, on behalf, of the Israel people, so, I think sin, will affect, even I sin, we can affect others, in a family, you know, the sin that I commit, I could affect, if I'm a father, I could, I could, I could, transfer that, well, I'm not sure, if I could actually, transfer that, but I will certainly, affect, the other family members, it's not something, you know, in Chinese, it, you know,

[16:54] I do things, and I read my own, you know, I pay my own, price, no, no, no, actually, we can affect, others, so let's be careful, now, these are, the sin, if in doubt, it will just, devastate our lives, and devastate the people, the lives of the people around us, our families, our workplaces, our church, but the good news is, we can deal with it, we don't deal with it, but we let God to deal with it, okay, and, dealing with our sins, God, not us, so we have a, problem, with our artery, we go to the cardiologist, we don't fix myself, I don't cut off, open myself, and, oh, let me try to, use the screwdriver, or whatever, tighten up, I don't do that, you know, I go, I go to the cardiologist, so if I have problem, with my spirit, I come to the, Lord of life, he will deal with it, now, let us know that, yes, indeed, he is a righteous God, in verse 4, he says that, yes, you are, you are, you prove right, when you speak, yes, he is right, and, and justified, right, when you judge, right, and he has, absolute standard, he is a holy God, he is a righteous God, yes, indeed, he doesn't, you know, when he knows, there is a sin, he won't say, oh, it's okay, when it's a sin, there is a sin, and to him, there is an absolute standard, but, and, and, but the psalmist, all also know that, he comes, to a merciful, and kind God, in verse 1, he prayed, have mercy on me, according, to your, unfailing love, he knew, the first words, he came to pray, was, holding on to the goodness, and the merciful kindness, of God, now,

[19:03] I think this is a, a very, wonderful integration, of the attributes, of God, of God, he's righteous, he's holy, but it's also, kind, and merciful, you know, some, some religions, the God is certainly, very holy, very mighty, but he's not loving, and we just, can't approach him, and for some, religions, oh, he's, the gods are so, so loving, oh, anybody can come to him, but there is no standard, but our God, he's indeed, a holy God, but also, he is very kind, and he's good, and that's why, he come, we can come to him, just the way, I am, no one can boast, we, we all sin, what do we do, we come to, the good God, the holy God, says, in verse 6, and verse 17,

[20:08] God, desired, faithfulness, even, in the womb, in verse 17, what he required, a broken, and contrite, heart, we can come to God, with honesty, and sincerity, we don't need to pretend, I don't need to pretend, oh, Moksi, you've been doing Moksi, for many years, you commit, sins as well, of course I commit sins, you are simo, you know, yeah, no, you know, you can't, you can't hide in your family, in your homes, have I, have I kind of, lose, lost my, my, temper at times, of course I do, I'm a man, I have flesh and blood, but I say sorry to him, and I say sorry to God, we can come, to God, with sincerity, and honesty, and in, in verse 17, it doesn't delight, it doesn't delight, in just bold offerings, you know, he delights us, to have a broken, and contrite heart, now remember,

[21:19] David, okay, now David, he, he was, he was kind of described, as a man, after God's own heart, right, but has he, has he done things wrong, of course he's done, wrong things, I mean, the psalm, if according to the description, at the beginning, that was a really dreadful sin, he committed adultery, with this woman, what's her name, Bathsheba, she must be like, bath bathing, you know, her name, Bathsheba, you know, and to bathe, outdoor, what do you, what on earth do you want to, bath outdoor, you know, and for, and for, for David, you know, with a very natural man, man, you know, suddenly sees, with the lust of his eyes, and he just, wanted to have it, because of his power, he did not only, commit adultery, he killed, her husband, not just, one man, the way he did it, he lost, he lost,

[22:31] I think, other men, the troops, that went with him, right, it was that scheme, that he devised, how, how horrible this guy is, was, but yet, he was described, a man, after God's, own heart, now compared to, Sam, compared to, Saul, right, Saul was the first king, he was after him, when you think, well, ethically, or, and, and, and, and, things that, they do, when, when they did, you know, compared the two, Saul wasn't that bad, really, right, you know, for, for David, I mean, he would, you know, today, he would be jailed, maybe for life, in some countries, Saul, you know, just, just, just, took, told a few lies, and, and he just, thing, he grabbed things, and it wasn't his responsibility, he just took it, that's about it, but the, the difference was,

[23:43] David was honest, and Saul, was not, now, interesting to know, Casey asked us, a few, few weeks ago, when he preached in Saturday and Sunday, who was, you know the answer, don't, don't answer, right, who was, who was, who was the best king, in Israel, some biblical, quiz, here, who was the best king, in Israel, was not David, not David, Josiah was the best king, you read it, there was no one before him, no one after him, all right, now, consider that, David was not even the best king, and he did a lot of things wrong, but yet, he was described, as a, as a man, after God's own heart, not because of what he did, because of his honesty, of his sincerity, because of his, he holding on to God,

[24:45] I think, this is a, a very good lesson for us all, you know, a good Christian, a man, a man, a woman, after God's own heart, it's not, that, we've done nothing wrong, if we have done nothing wrong, because, we're not in that situation, that, we haven't done yet, we haven't, we haven't, kind of, yeah, we haven't done that, but in here, we have, I think, if, if God sees us, I think, much more than a fumble, you know, to write down the list, you know, but, God, allow us, and demands, sincerity, and honesty, so let's come to him, with that boldness, alright, when sins are dealt, wow, we're reconciled, with God, alright, and he know that, and, when he prayed, Lord, please do not, do not take, forsaking us, please not forsake us, please do not, take the spirit, away from us, let me have the joy, of salvation, and, and surely, when sins are dealt, all these, are resumed, all these, are promised, to us, and, our, our responses, in verses 12, to 15, we will, we will be, having that joy, and we'll praise, and we will just tell others, about his goodness, in verse 13, to 15, then I will, teach, transgresses, transgresses, your ways, so that sinners, will turn back to you, because I have experienced that, so I will share,

[26:30] God is good, and come, come back to him, he will forgive your sins, you know, yeah, and, I'm thankful, that there are people, in my past, that, had, witnessed to me, and I was encouraged, to come, even as a pastor, oh, I see other pastors, oh, these experienced pastors, oh, they commit sins as well, they can confess, in front of a thousand people, well, I can do that too, I don't need to pretend, and, and we can, we can encourage others, and, in verse 14, deliver me from the guilt, of bloodshed, oh God, you who are God, my savior, and my tongue, will sing, of your righteousness, open my lips, Lord, and my mouth, will declare, your praise, when we know, that our sins, are forgiven, we'll have joy, we will praise, and we will witness, to fall in, so they, this is Psalm 51, do we want, to just, have this sin, just, compressed inside, don't want to face it, don't want to let, anyone else, anyone knows, and just let that, haunt me, grips me, and, and suffocate, my spiritual life, or do we want to come, before the good, and righteous God, sincerely, confessing my sin, and let God, to deal with it, cleanse that, unclog that, and we can have joy, and we can, follow him, and we can tell others, of the goodness of God,

[28:11] I'll encourage you, to do that, you don't have to, it's not, it's not, legalistic, but, Cynthia would like to, distribute, some papers, if one paper is not enough, you can have two, three, just, and, and you'll have, you'll have a pen, each, just some, take some time, just take some time, to think, I finished my sermon, early today, so, I'll give you another, five minutes, or so, just, pray, maybe, maybe, well, it's too much to write, that's okay, just write two or three, something that really, really, God convicts us, okay, you don't need to write, an essay, okay, but, something you know, deep down, you need, cleansing, we, we need to, confess before God, we need to ask God, to please, please take that away from me, please, I don't want this, to grip me, to haunt me,

[29:13] I don't want Satan, to take hold of that, and, and, and tell me, I'm no good, we can once, for all, for all, we can deal with it, let God, let the blood of Jesus, to wash away, my sin, now, if you have done that before, you dealt with that before, please, please don't dig it up again, all right, you have done that, okay, done forever, Jesus said, you know, he, he will throw that, into the deep, depth of the sea, and don't, don't fish it back, okay, no, you don't need to, but there, there are things that, maybe recently, that we, we know that, we need to deal with it, ask God to, to deal with it, and just write that, write that, you know, if you need some space, you can, you know, you don't want others to peep, and, and, and see what happened, you can just spread out a bit, that's okay, and I'll give you about five minutes, just write, and ask God, and then come, and then, and then, and then come out, I'll get you, get a box, and then you come out, and just rip it, in the name of Jesus, rip it, all right, so take your time, thank you.

[30:24] Thank you.