Thursday
Evening Bible Study
April
7, 2016
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Target 3300 words
Video = 75 wpm
The English word psalm comes
from a Greek word that means “a poem sung to musical accompaniment”, or in
particular, “stringed instruments”.
The Hebrew name is tehillim, which means “praises.”
The book of Psalms is the hymnbook
of God’s people.
It’s also the “Him” book as well.
It’s all about Jesus.
The writer of Hebrews quotes from
Psalm 40:8 when he writes,
(Hebrews 10:7 NKJV) Then I
said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume
of the book it is written of Me— To do Your
will, O God.’ ”
The author was talking about Jesus.
We’re going to see a lot of Jesus
in the Psalms.
Soul Music
Music touches the soul. It’s
“soulish” in nature. It touches the emotions.
We’re going to find every kind of
emotion possible expressed in the Psalms.
For every sigh there is a Psalm.
We’re going to jump right into the psalm tonight…
Psalm 51 – David’s Confession
: To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David When Nathan the Prophet Went to
Him, After He Had Gone in to Bathsheba.
When Nathan the Prophet Went to Him
This is one of the Psalms where the background story is very, very
important.
King David, the “man after God’s own heart” was also a notorious sinner.
The story starts in 2Samuel 11, when David catches a glimpse of a beautiful
young woman bathing, has sex with her, gets her pregnant, and then to cover the
whole thing up makes sure her husband gets killed in a battle with the
Ammonites.
God saw all that David had done, and God was not happy that His king was
acting so despicably, so God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David over his
sin. After telling David a story about a
rich man who stole his poor neighbor’s lamb, Nathan said…
The story starts in springtime, and
a new season was beginning, not baseball season, but “war season”.
It was the time of year when kings
went out to war.
But this year, David decided to
skip spring training and he stayed home while his troops marched off to battle
with the Ammonites.
Ancient Israeli houses had their
porches on the roof, and David was up on his rooftop enjoying the evening.
Archaeology puts David’s house on
the highest point in the city, and from his rooftop he could look over the
other rooftops.
And that evening he saw a young
lady taking a bath on her rooftop.
This gal caught David’s eye, and he
had her brought to his house. He ended
up committing adultery with his friend Uriah’s wife.
When Bathsheba sent word a few
months later that she was pregnant, David panicked and tried to figure out a
way to cover it all up.
He invited Uriah home from the
battle front, got Uriah drunk, in hopes that Uriah would go home to sleep with
his beautiful wife.
But Uriah was a man of principle,
and he couldn’t imagine enjoying a night with his wife while his combat buddies
were out in the field.
David tried a second time to get
Uriah to go home for the evening, but Uriah stuck to his principles.
Out of frustration, David has Uriah
sent back to the battlefield carrying top secret instructions to General
Joab. The secret letter to Joab
instructed Joab to make sure that Uriah was killed in the next battle. Before he knew it, Uriah was dead, and David
married Bathsheba…
(2 Samuel 11:27b NKJV) …But the
thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
(2 Samuel 12:9–14
NKJV) —9 Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have
killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be
your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now
therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have
despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says
the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise
up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before
your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your
wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all
Israel, before the sun.’ ” 13 So David
said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan
said to David, “The Lord also has
put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the
enemies of the Lord to blaspheme,
the child also who is born to you shall surely die.”
Psalm 51 is a song that David wrote at this time.
This is his confession, a song of confession.
:1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your
lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my
transgressions.
Blot out – machah – to wipe,
wipe out
transgressions – pesha‘– transgression, rebellion
multitude – rob –
multitude, abundance, greatness
:1 mercy … lovingkindness … tender mercies
mercy – chanan – to be
gracious, show favor, pity
lovingkindness – checed – goodness,
kindness, faithfulness
tender mercies –racham – to love
deeply, have mercy, have tender affection
Lesson
Count on grace
These words are at the core of what God considers His primary
character. When Moses asked to know God
better, this is what God told Moses:
(Exodus 34:6 NKJV) And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed,
“The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,
All three of our
words are found in this verse.
There’s a chorus that God’s people
sing over and over in the Old Testament.
We see the chorus sung at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple:
(2 Chronicles 5:13 NKJV) indeed it
came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one
sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets
and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying: “For He
is good, For His mercy endures
forever,” that the house, the
house of the Lord, was filled
with a cloud,
Illustration
Several years ago, a businessman found out about an elderly widow who was
unable to pay her rent. Feeling pity for her, he went to some of his friends
and asked them if they would be kind enough to contribute something to help pay
her rent. They responded, and he got two months’ rent. He went to the widow’s
house that week to deliver the money.
Although he knew she was inside, when he knocked he got no answer. He
knocked a second time and still no answer. He knocked a third time, still no
answer. He knocked a fourth time. Not knowing what else to do, he returned to
his business.
A couple of days later, he saw her downtown on the sidewalk looking
destitute. He walked up to her and said, “Ma’am, some friends of mine and I
found out about your situation. We want to help. We got enough money together
to give you rent money for two months. I came to your house to give it to you
this week, but I knocked several times and got no answer.”
She took a gasp of breath and put her hand to her face. She said, “Oh, I
thought you were the landlord coming to evict me.”
-- R. Larry Moyer,
"Right Smack in the Middle of Sin,
What do you expect when God comes knocking at your door?
Are you expecting to get evicted, or are you expecting to experience grace?
:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And
cleanse me from my sin.
:1 transgressions – pesha‘– transgression, rebellion
:2 iniquity – ‘avon – perversity, depravity, iniquity, guilt
:2 sin – chatta’ah – sin,
to miss the mark
Throughout the psalm, David uses all
the words in the Hebrew dictionary for sin.
He’s not trying to hide anything.
:2 Wash me thoroughly
wash – kabac – to wash
(by treading), be washed, perform the work of a fuller
thoroughly – rabah – be or
become great, be or become many
:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin
is always before me.
:3 I acknowledge my
transgressions
acknowledge – yada‘– (Qal) to know; find out and
discern; to recognize, admit, confess
:3 my sin is always before me
It’s been about a year between the time that David sinned and when he
confessed his sin.
Remember that he got a gal pregnant.
She’s given birth to a baby. It
didn’t happen yesterday.
All David has been able to think about is his sin.
It’s been an all-consuming passion.
Illustration
In the late 1980’s, televangelist Jim Bakker was convicted of fraud and
conspiracy. Part of the downfall of his
ministry involved an affair he had with a gal named Jessica Hahn. In his book I Was Wrong (Nelson, 1996, p. 21), Jim writes,
“I knew that what I was doing went directly against everything I believed
as a Christian. I had never cheated on my wife in all our years of
marriage. Jessica Hahn, however, seemed
quite comfortable with the situation. I
simply abandoned myself to the moment.
We did not make love; we had sex. When it was over, I quickly left the
room, and in a daze, hurried to the elevator and pressed the button marking the
eighth floor. The winter afternoon sun
was already beginning to slide down on the horizon as I stepped inside my room.
I was horrified. Oh, God! What have I done? I had not considered the consequences of my
absurd attempt to make Tammy Faye jealous.
I had not even paused to think of the potential ramifications of my actions
while I was giving in to the temptation of having sex with a woman other than
my wife. I had simply reacted. I had
opened the door to attack on the ministry I headed, my family, and me
personally. Worse yet, the devil had not
made me do any of it; I had done it of my own stubborn will. I disrobed and
immediately stepped into the shower, turning the water on as hot as I could
stand it. I never felt so dirty in all
my life. Maybe if I make the water hotter, it will wash it all away, I
thought.”
:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this
evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And
blameless when You judge.
:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned
have I sinned – chata’ – (Qal) to miss; to sin, miss the goal or path of right and
duty
Lesson
The need for confession
David needs and is asking for forgiveness, but he is going to receive
forgiveness only on the condition that he admits or confesses his sin.
God is absolutely correct in
condemning David’s sin.
Ultimately, all sin is against God, so we need to start our journey to
forgiveness by confessing our sin to Him.
In Psalm 32, David talks about how horrible life was under the cloud of
condemnation until …
(Psalm 32:5 NKJV) I
acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I
will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You
forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Forgiveness comes after
confession.
(1 John 1:9 NKJV) If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Don’t think that because you’ve asked God for forgiveness, that that’s all
you need to do.
When our sin hurts other people, we need to go beyond asking God for
forgiveness, and ask the offended party for forgiveness as well.
Jesus said,
(Matthew
5:23–24 NKJV) —23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember
that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the
altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and
offer your gift.
In other words, before you think everything’s right with
God when you’ve hurt someone else, you need to make things right with the other
person.
:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in
sin my mother conceived me.
:5 I was brought forth in iniquity
(Psalm 51:5 The Message) I’ve been
out of step with you for a long time, in the
wrong since before I was born.
David is not saying that the act of conceiving a child is sinful.
He’s saying that from the moment of conception he has possessed a sin
nature.
Sinning is nothing new for
David. He’s always been a sinner.
:6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
:6 You desire truth in the inward parts
truth – ‘emeth – firmness, faithfulness, truth; sureness,
reliability; stability
Lesson
Growing in truth
It is possible to live your life under the delusion of a fantasy.
We don’t like certain parts of our lives, so we either pretend they don’t
exist, or we make up stories as to why they are there.
You aren’t going to go anywhere in life until you learn to admit the truth
about who you are.
Stop hiding the truth. Stop making excuses.
Paul said we actually mature when we learn to speak and receive the truth
from each other.
(Ephesians 4:15
NKJV) but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him
who is the head—Christ—
Illustration
In his book Great Themes of the Bible, Louis Albert Banks told of the time
D. L. Moody once visited a prison called “The Tombs” to preach to the
inmates. After he had finished speaking, Moody talked with a number of men in
their cells. He asked each prisoner this question, “What brought you here?” Again
and again he received replies like this: “I don’t deserve to be here.” “I was
framed.” “I was falsely accused.” “I was given an unfair trial.” Not one inmate
would admit he was guilty. Finally, Moody found a man with his face buried in
his hands, weeping. “And what’s wrong, my friend?” he inquired. The prisoner
responded, “My sins are more than I can bear.” Relieved to find at least one
man who would recognize his guilt and his need of forgiveness, the evangelist
exclaimed, “Thank God for that!” Moody then had the joy of pointing him to a
saving knowledge of Christ—a knowledge that released him from his shackles of
sin.
I have a friend who is in a twelve step program, and he has a catch phrase
that I like, he calls it “rigorous honesty”.
Are you rigorously honest with yourself?
With others?
:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow.
:7 Purge me with hyssop
purge – chata’ – (Piel) to bear loss; to make a sin-offering; to purify from
sin; to purify from uncleanness
hyssop – ‘ezowb – hyssop, a plant used for medicinal and
religious purposes.
There is some disagreement over which actual plant Biblical “hyssop” might
be, but the consensus seems to identify it with “Syrian Oregano” or Origanum
Syriacum.
In the Old Testament, the word is found in three main places, all having to
do with cleansing.
The Passover
It was dipped in the lamb’s blood and used to paint the blood on the
doorposts of the house. (Ex. 12:21-22)
(Exodus 12:21–22 NKJV) —21 Then Moses
called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs
for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood
that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with
the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door
of his house until morning.
Cleansing the Leper
It was involved in the ritual performed when a leper was healed. (Lev.
14:4-6)
It was mixed with cedar wood, scarlet thread, the blood of a bird, then a
living bird was dipped in the mixture and set free, a picture of the cleansing
from leprosy, even a picture of resurrection.
(Leviticus 14:4–6 NKJV) —4 then the
priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and
clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. 5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in
an earthen vessel over running water. 6 As for the
living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop,
and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was
killed over the running water.
The Red Heifer
It was a part of the mixture that was burned to create the ashes of the Red
Heifer, used in rituals to cleanse those who have touched dead bodies. (Num.
19:6)
(Numbers 19:6 NKJV) And the
priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into
the midst of the fire burning the heifer.
:7 I shall be whiter than snow
Lesson
Cleansing
Scientists have discovered that every snowflake has a tiny piece of dust at
its core. Even a snowflake has a “dirty
heart”.
I have found two things that are helpful when it comes to cleansing from
sin.
Blood
The blood cleanses my heart.
When we confess our sin, we become cleansed.
(1
John 1:9 NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
His blood is what makes the foulest clean.
(1
John 1:7 NKJV) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us
from all sin.
From ALL sin.
It’s His sacrifice that has purchased our forgiveness that
can cleanse us from guilt.
Notice the connection to “fellowship”. Cleansing is connected to our relationship
with each other. Admitting the “truth”
to each other is important.
Water
Water cleanses my mind.
Even when I trust that God has forgiven me, I can still feel dirty and defiled
in my mind.
(Ephesians 5:26
NKJV) that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by
the word,
I find it helpful to wash my mind with God’s Word.
:8 Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may
rejoice.
:8 the bones You have broken
joy – sasown – gladness,
joy, exultation, rejoicing
gladness – simchah – joy,
mirth, gladness
You have broken – dakah – to crush,
be crushed, be contrite, be broken; (Piel) to crush
down; to crush to pieces
We will see this same word used in
verse 17, but used in a different sense, in the passive sense:
(Psalm 51:17 NKJV) The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A
broken and a contrite heart— These, O
God, You will not despise.
rejoice – giyl – to rejoice,
exult, be glad
Lesson
Getting my attention
Sometimes God has to do things to get my attention, like breaking bones.
When a young lamb continually strays from the flock, a shepherd might even
have to resort to breaking the lamb’s leg to keep it from wandering.
Then the shepherd will carry the lamb until its bones are mended.
Jeremiah saw the destruction of Babylon as being an example of God having
to wound His people to get their attention.
(Lamentations 3:32–33
NKJV) —32 Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. 33 For He does
not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.
God isn’t looking for opportunities to make us
miserable. He does not afflict us
“willingly”. But sometimes He has to
resort to drastic measures to get our attention.
:9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all
my iniquities.
:9 Hide Your face from my sins
Hide – cathar – to hide,
conceal
face – paniym – face;
presence, person
sins – chet’ – sin
The subject of God’s “face” or
“presence” is written into Aaron’s blessing to the people:
(Numbers 6:24–26 NKJV) —24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25
The Lord
make His face shine upon you, And be
gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’
We want God’s face or presence
shining on us.
We don’t want God to be seeing sin
in our lives.
We know it would
cause such grief to God. This is not
about wanting to hide our sins from God, but keeping God from the grief of our
sins.
:9 blot out all my iniquities
blot out – machah – to wipe,
wipe out; to blot out, obliterate; exterminate
iniquities – ‘avon – perversity, depravity, iniquity, guilt or
punishment of iniquity
We want God to completely
obliterate the perversity in our lives.
:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a
steadfast spirit within me.
:10 Create in me a clean heart
create – bara’ – to shape,
fashion, create
(always with God as subject); of new
conditions and circumstances
There are two different Hebrew words that we translate “create”. The word “asa” means to form out of
something that already exists, as when God made man out of the dust of the
earth. The other word is “bara”, which carries the idea of
creating out of nothing, as when God created the heavens and the earth.
The word used here is “bara”, the
idea of creating something brand new, not just shaping something new out of
something old.
renew – chadash – (Piel) to renew, make anew; to repair
right – kuwn – (Niphal) to be set up, be established, be fixed; to be
firmly established; to be established, be stable, be secure, be enduring; to be
fixed, be securely determined; to be directed aright, be fixed aright, be
steadfast (moral sense); to prepare, be ready; to be prepared, be arranged, be
settled
:11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do
not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
cast – shalak – (Hiphil) to throw, cast, throw away, cast off, shed, cast
down
presence – paniym – face
:11 do not take Your Holy Spirit from me
David had seen it with his boss, King Saul.
It happened because of Saul’s continual rebellion against God…
(1 Samuel 16:13–14
NKJV) —13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of
his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord
came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. 14 But the
Spirit of the Lord departed from
Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord
troubled him.
Can this happen to a New Testament believer?
Lesson
Eternal Security
Is this talking about losing your salvation? Can a believer lose their salvation because
of sin in their life?
My answer is: No and maybe.
No
I think there is a sense in which we do not need to be
afraid that we are losing our salvation every five seconds…
Our salvation is based on God’s grace towards us, not the
works that we do.
(Ephesians
2:8–9 NKJV) —8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Illustration
THE BARBER
After twenty years of shaving himself every morning, a man
in a small Southern town decided he had enough. He told his wife that he
intended to let the local barber shave him each day. He put on his hat and coat
and went to the barber shop, which was owned by the pastor of the town’s
Baptist Church. The barber’s wife, named Grace, was working that day, so she
performed the task. Grace shaved him and sprayed him with lilac water, and
said, “That will be $20.” The man thought the price was a bit high, but he paid
the bill and went to work. The next morning the man looked in the mirror, and
his face was as smooth as it had been when he left the barber shop the day
before. Not bad, he thought. At least I don’t need to get a shave every day.
The next morning, the man’s face was still smooth. Two weeks later, the man was
still unable to find any trace of whiskers on his face. It was more than he
could take, so he returned to the barber shop. “I thought $20 was high for a
shave”, he told the barber’s wife, “but you must have done a great job. It’s
been two weeks and my whiskers still haven’t started growing back.” The
expression on her face didn’t even change, expecting his comment. She
responded, “You were shaved by Grace. Once shaved, always shaved.”
Jesus said,
(John
10:28 NKJV) And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither
shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
Maybe
My position on this has changed slightly through the years
because of some troubling Scriptures, the most difficult one being in Hebrews:
I know the
arguments of those who say you can never lose your salvation when it comes to
these Scriptures, but I am having a difficult time holding to those same
arguments.
(Hebrews
6:4–6 NKJV) —4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened,
and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy
Spirit, 5 and have
tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall
away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for
themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
Paul himself wrote some troubling things, including:
(Galatians
5:19–21 NKJV) —19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery,
hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,
dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I
tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those
who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Here’s how I see all this.
Though I hold dearly to Jesus’ promise that nothing can
take me from His hand, I think there may be a point in a person’s life where
they continually rebel against God, and their heart gets so hardened that they
no longer care about the things of God.
I think that person may be in danger of losing their
salvation.
Frankly I don’t think they will care that they’ve lost
what they once had because their heart is so hardened.
I do not think this is a place that is easy to get to.
I think it only comes after years and years of rejecting
God’s prompting to turn around.
If you are struggling with sin, but you are still
convicted by the Spirit of God over your sin, I don’t think you need to be
thinking that any moment God is going to turn His back on you.
The fact that you are struggling shows that God has not
abandoned you.
:12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And
uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
:12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
restore – shuwb – (Hiphil) to cause to return, bring back; to bring back,
allow to return, put back, draw back, give back, restore, relinquish, give in
payment; to bring back, refresh, restore
uphold – camak – (Qal) to lean or lay upon, rest upon, lean against; to
support, uphold, sustain
Lesson
Joyful salvation
Joy ought to be a part of the life of the believer.
Joy is one of the things the Holy
Spirit produces in our lives when we walk in the Spirit:
(Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV) —22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law.
David wrote,
(Psalm
16:11 NKJV) You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness
of joy; At Your
right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Even when we are in a difficult circumstance, we can still have a taste of
joy, we can even command ourselves to be joyful. Paul was in prison when he wrote,
(Philippians
4:4 NKJV) Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Our joy is in the Lord, not our circumstances.
The epistle to the Philippians is known as Paul’s epistle
of “joy”.
But when you are struggling in your sin, there is no joy.
David wrote,
(Psalm 32:3–4 NLT) —3 When
I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. 4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My
strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude
David asks God to turn it around for him and help him get his joy back.
:12 uphold me by Your generous Spirit
uphold – camak – to lean,
lay, rest, support, put, uphold, lean upon
generous – nadiyb – inclined, willing, noble, generous
It could mean that God will support David with His generous
Holy Spirit.
It could also mean that God would sustain David by giving David a generous
or willing spirit or attitude.
(Psalm 51:12 NLT) Restore to
me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
:13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And
sinners shall be converted to You.
teach – lamad – to learn.
teach, exercise in
transgressors – pasha–
to rebel, transgress, revolt
ways – derek – way, road,
distance, journey, manner
sinners – chatta’ – sinners
converted – shuwb – to return,
turn back
:13 I will teach transgressors Your ways
Lesson
Sharing with others
I think this is a sign that your repentance from sin to God is real.
You must take what you’ve learned and share it with others.
In AA, the twelfth step is:
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to
carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our
affairs.
When you’ve learned to turn from your sin, acknowledge and confess your
sin, and receive God’s cleansing, then God wants to use you to teach others not
to go down the roads you’ve gone down.
But you can’t help others get any further than you yourself have
gotten. You can’t teach others what you
haven’t learned yourself.
Illustration
John R. W. Stott, writes,
It’s quite futile
saying to people, “Go to the cross.” We’ve got to be able to say “Come to the
cross.” There are only two voices that can issue that invitation. One is the
voice of the sinless Redeemer, with which we cannot speak, and the other is the
voice of the forgiven sinner who knows himself forgiven. And that is our part.
True revival begins with each one
of us.
Illustration
A man once asked the
famous evangelist Gipsy Smith, how to have a revival. Smith asked, “Do you have a place where you
can pray?” The man answered that he did.
“Tell you what you
do,” Smith said. “You go to that place,
and take a piece of chalk along. Kneel
down there, and with the chalk, draw a complete circle all around you. Then pray for God to send a revival to
everything inside of the circle. Stay
there until He answers... and you will have revival.”
Gipsy Smith knew
that true revival begins in the heart of each person.
:14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your
righteousness.
:14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed
This is talking about the punishment that was required for David’s sins.
the guilt of bloodshed – dam –
blood
Blood was a symbol of life. (Lev.
17:11)
(Leviticus 17:11 NKJV) For the
life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the
altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that
makes atonement for the soul.’
It also represented punishment that
certain sins required for payment (Eze. 3:18)
(Ezekiel 3:18 NKJV) When I say
to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak
to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man
shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.
David deserved a death sentence, twice.
He deserved death for committing adultery with Bathsheba.
He deserved death for having Uriah put to death.
We too deserve death for our sin.
(Romans 6:23 NKJV) For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
deliver – natsal – to snatch
away, deliver, rescue, save, strip, plunder
salvation – teshuw’ah –
salvation, deliverance
shall sing aloud – ranan – (Piel) to give a ringing cry (in joy, exultation, praise
righteousness – tsedaqah –
justice, righteousness
:15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show
forth Your praise.
:15 open my lips
open – pathach – to open
shall show forth – nagad – to be
conspicuous, tell, make known
I think that David is saying that he will keep his mouth shut until God
does His full work in David, and then David will give God praise.
:16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do
not delight in burnt offering.
:16 You do not desire sacrifice
desire – chaphets – to
delight in, take pleasure in, desire, be pleased with
sacrifice – zebach – sacrifice
delight – ratsah – to be
pleased with, be favorable to, accept favorably
Lesson
Obedience over sacrifice
God desires that David be in a
place to praise Him, not one of offering sacrifice for sins.
God does require sacrifice for
sins.
That’s why Jesus came, to be God’s ultimate sacrifice to pay for our sins.
But God would rather that we not sin, and instead that we live lives that
bring praise to Him. When Saul was
confronted by Samuel over Saul’s sin, Saul mentioned that he was planning on
making a sacrifice…
(1 Samuel 15:22
NKJV) So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as
great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying
the voice of the Lord? Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed
than the fat of rams.
:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A
broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.
:17 A broken and a contrite heart
broken – shabar – (Niphal) to be broken, be maimed, be crippled, be wrecked
contrite – dakah – (Niphal) to be crushed, be contrite, be broken
Both verbs (broken and contrite) are
in a passive voice (“Niphal” stem) meaning that is
was something done to David.
The word “contrite” here is the same word translated “broken” in:
(Psalm 51:8 NKJV) Make me hear
joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
David was broken by God.
You have to come to the place where you stop fighting what God is doing and
allow Him to “break” you.
despise – bazah – (Qal) to despise, regard with contempt
Illustration
Watchman Nee wrote:
Our spirit is released according to the degree of our brokenness. The one
who has accepted the most discipline is the one who can best serve. The more one is broken, the more sensitive he
is. The more we desire to save
ourselves, in that very thing we become spiritually useless. Whenever we preserve and excuse ourselves, at
that point we are deprived of spiritual sensitivity and supply. Let no one imagine he can be effective and
disregard this basic principle.
Brokenness is a good thing.
:18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Do good – yatab – to be
good, be pleasing, be well, be glad
good pleasure – ratsown –
pleasure, delight, favor, goodwill, acceptance, will
build – banah – to build,
rebuild, establish, cause to continue
:19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they
shall offer bulls on Your altar.
You shall be pleased – chaphets – to
delight in, take pleasure in, desire, be pleased with
sacrifices – zebach – sacrifice
righteousness – tsedeq – justice, rightness,
righteousness
burnt offering – ‘owlah – whole burnt offering
offer – ‘alah – (Hiphil) to bring up,
cause to ascend or climb, cause to go up; to offer, bring up (of gifts)
:19 You shall be pleased with the sacrifices
It’s when you get your heart right before God, that the things that you
offer to God are pleasing to Him.
:18 Build the walls of Jerusalem
Lesson
Sin’s consequences
My sin lowers my defenses.
The walls of a city are the main thing that protects the city from attack.
When I sin, my defenses against further attack are
weakened.
I think it’s harder to fight against temptation in areas
where we’ve done that sin before.
There’s a hole in the wall.
My sin affects others.
Nathan had already warned David that his sin would become an example to his
own sons.
Absalom would repeat David’s sin of adultery. (2Sam. 12:11)
(2 Samuel 12:11 NKJV) Thus
says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will
raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives
before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with
your wives in the sight of this sun.
David’s son
Absalom would fulfill this, copying his father’s example of adultery.
These are good things to think about when you are tempted.
Satan wants you to think, “What harm could it do to just give in this one
time?”
The truth is you are making the walls weaker.
Songs
Dm C Dm C
...
Dm
Be gracious to me O God
C
According to Thy kindness
Dm C
According to Thy compassion
Dm C
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
Dm C
And cleanse me from my sin
CHORUS * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
F G Am
F G Am
Create in me a clean heart O God
F G Am
And renew a right spirit within me
Am G Am G
Am
Restore 2 me the joy of Thy salvation
F G Am
Uphold me with a willing spirit
BRIDGE - - - - - - - -
C G/B
For see with what love
Am
He hath loved us
F G Am
That He should lay down His life
C G/B Am
To deliver us from darkness
F G
Am
And bring us into His light
CHORUS (start Am) (then intro again)
Dm C
For I know my transgressions
Dm C
And my sin is ever before me
Dm C
Against Thee, Thee only
Dm C
I have sinned
CHORUS, BRIDGE (instrumental only)
CHORUS (start Am)
written February 1976
Psalm 51/ Words & Music by Richard Cathers / ©
1986 Richard Cathers / Psalm51.doc
C G
Wash me, cleanse me,
F G
Sprinkle me with Your kindness
C G F
G
Create in me a clean heart
C G
Wash me, cleanse me,
F G
Sprinkle me with Your kindness
C G F
G
Restore to me Your joy
F C
Cleanse me with hyssop
F C
And I shall be clean
F C
Wash me and I shall be
D G
Whiter than snow
F C
Take all my sins
F C
Cast them into the sea
F C Bb G
As far as the east from the west
C F C
F
Remove them from me
written August 10, 1986
Wash Me / Words & Music by Richard Cathers / ©
1986 Richard Cathers / WashMe.doc
Create In Me A Clean Heart (Ps 51)
G D C
G C
Create in me a clean heart, O God
D G CG
And renew a right spirit within me
(2x)
C D G
And cast me not from Thy presence
C D G
And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me
C D
Restore unto me
*G *D/F#
Em
C
The joy of Thy salvation
D G CG
And renew a right spirit within me
* alt: Replace with B & B/F#
Create In Me A Clean Heart (Ps
51)/ Author Unknown / ©
Unknown / Create.doc
Tran
Verse – All Vocals; Chorus
Verse; Chorus
Inst. Verse; Chorus (2x)
Verse
Tran: (Verse) start on Em
Bm Em
A broken heart
Bm
You will not despise
Em
A broken spirit
Bm
You will require
Em
Teach me Your truth
Bm
Help me walk beside You
Em
A humble heart
F# Bm
This is Your desire
G
Open my lips
Bm
Let me sing Your praises
G
Open my ears
Bm
Let me hear Your voice
(repeat)
Broken Heart / Words and Music by Debby Cathers / ©
1999 Debby Cathers / Broken.doc