Gospel Guidance
Psalm
51 (NIV UK)
For
the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him
after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have
mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great
compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash
away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For
I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
4 Against
you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight;
so
you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
5 Surely
I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet
you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret
place.
7 Cleanse
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let
me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide
your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create
in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do
not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore
to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then
I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver
me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Saviour, and my
tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open
my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You
do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in
burnt offerings.
17 My
sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you,
God, will not despise.
18 May
it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Introduction
Psalm 51 is David’s prayer for restoration with God. It is fairly well-known among Christians. However, I wonder how many of you know that it is a basic “Repent and believe in the Gospel” message? By basic, I mean that David gets convicted by God’s Law and then he seeks the forgiveness promised in the Gospel.
By God’s Law we mean His Ten Commandments and by God’s Gospel we mean the righteousness that God grants to the sinner through faith. Therefore, Psalm 51 is a Gospel presentation in which Nathan the Prophet illustrates to us how to do it.
You’ll notice how Psalm 51 is introduced: “For the director of music”? Obviously, this Psalm is meant to be sung! But let’s look at the words: “A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.”
So, there’s the context. The title of my message is Gospel Guidance. There is so much we could look at in this psalm, but we’ll restrict ourselves to three points: 1 The Commandments, 2 The Confrontation, and 3 The Conversion.
1.
The Commandments
In any basic Gospel presentation, you need to assume that the other person is a sinner, that they have broken God’s Law. “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). So, we’re talking about God’s Law here, the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue.
David is feeling the weight of His sins as the Holy Spirit works with His Word in David’s heart. David says in verse 8, “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.”
When I pastored a church in Central Queensland, I learned what a “cattle-crusher” is. The “cattle crush” was a kind of metal squeeze box, a huge clamp, that held the bull, cow, or steer, in place so that you could brand it or administer whatever to it. Because of his sin and his awakened conscience, David has been caught in the Holy Spirit’s “sinner-crusher” so hard that he feels as if his bones are being crushed by God!
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Like someone the morning after the night before! We’ve got no sympathy for you David! Ya brung it on yourself! It was self-inflicted David!
Now, as you know, the Gospel is about us being saved from God’s punishment for breaking His Law. That’s what Jesus was doing. He lived a perfect life by keeping God’s Law perfectly on behalf of all who trust in Him alone for salvation. He paid the penalty that believers each owe God for breaking His Commandments.
Christ receives our sins and we believers receive His righteousness. This transaction happens when we, by the grace of God, do what Jesus commands us to do when He says, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). This is essentially what’s going on in with David Psalm 51. He has broken God’s Law. He has repented and he has believed in the good news.
So, we need to paint a bit of a background. Most Christians have heard the story about David and Bathsheba. You can read all about in 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12.
In brief, Bathsheba is taking a bath on the rooftop of her house, as you do! And King David, who was supposed to be out fighting the enemies of Israel with his men, was at home instead with a pair of binoculars voyeuring! OK, he didn’t have a telescope or binoculars, but you are getting the picture.
So, which Commandment, at this point, was he breaking? He’s watching Bathsheba. “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife…” etc. The 10th Commandment (Exod. 20:17).
So, Bathsheba is splish, splash, she is taking a bath, and David likes what he is seeing. He is coveting, sexually desiring, he is lusting after Bathsheba. She is what you call beautiful! Don’t go there in your mind! It’s kryptonite! Jesus says, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28).
David is told that Bathsheba is “the daughter of Iliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite” (2 Sam. 11:3). Not to let a little thing like marriage get in the way, he sends for her. The plot thickens.
Bathsheba has just finished her time of monthly uncleanness. So, she comes to David, and they sleep together. And, unlike the Highland Fling, “it takes two to Tango” as they say. Bathsheba didn’t play hard to get. And David at this point already has three wives. Anyway, after this encounter, this tryst, we are told that “The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, ‘I am pregnant’” (2 Sam. 11:5).
They’ve both broken the 7th Commandment, ‘You shall not commit adultery” (Exod. 20:14), which itself back then was worthy of the death penalty. And now David is planning on breaking the 6th Commandment, ‘You shall not murder” (Exod. 20:13). Which is another death penalty Commandment! Oh, and David has also stolen Uriah’s wife. So, he has also broken the 9th Commandment, ‘You shall not steal” (Exod. 20:15).
What a mess! As the old song says, “Just one look, that’s all it took, just one look!” David should’ve done what Job did. “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman” (Job 31:11). And Jesus says, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed” (Mark 7:21-22). Which Commandments has David broken? The Theft, Murder, Adultery, and Greed Commandments. And from where do these evil thoughts come. “It is from within, out of a person’s heart.”
So, David has broken God’s Commandments, and his conscience has been bothering him. The weight of his sin has been crushing him so painfully he feels as if his bones have been broken, crushed.
The Spirit working with the Word has done His job of convicting David. God’s Law has made him ready for, nay, God’s Law has made him cry out with tears of repentance for God’s mercy. And where do we find the mercy of God? – In His Gospel.
Enter Nathan, the Lord’s Prophet.
2
The Confrontation
Now, some Christians think that giving a Gospel presentation means that you tell people that the fires of Hell await them. That they must “turn or burn”. This is what you might call a “sledgehammer” approach to evangelism! Others go for the softer approach and tell people that God has a great plan for their life if only they would invite Jesus into their heart!
I remember before I was a Christian being evangelized by some Jehovah’s Witnesses, who don’t believe in Hell. I said to them, “You mean that I can rape and pillage, rob banks, live a debauched life, and nothing happens to me when I die?” “But don’t you want to live forever on the new Earth?” So, the choice they gave me was “lights out forever”, which just seems like something an atheist would be happy with, or “soul sleep and wake up in Paradise.” Sin all you like because there’s no Judgment Day or slavishly try to be good enough so that God might perhaps possibly let you into Paradise? None of this has to do with the Gospel!
Here's what was happening with David. Verses 3 & 4, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.”
There’s a verse from the Book of Numbers that applies here, “You may be sure that your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23b). Yeah, it applies to us too!
David coveted a woman, stole his neighbour’s wife, committed adultery with her, and had her husband killed. And now she is with child, his child. This is when the Word of God comes to him via Nathan the Prophet.
Nathan doesn’t tell David to “turn or burn”! Nor does he tell David to just to work really hard at trying to be good and then God may take a shine to him. No! Nathan tells David a wee story, a story that David can relate to. That’s how Nathan presented the Gospel to David.
Nathan engages David with something David knows a great deal about. That’s how we should do it. Now, we acknowledge that there’re certain major differences between God sending His prophet to His backslidden king and you and me attempting to share the Gospel with someone. However, the general principle is much the same.
We should engage people where they’re at, with things they know about through life’s experience. The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker! Oh, you’re a butcher? How hard would it have been for Abraham to cut those animals in half when God cut a covenant with him? What covenant? And off you go with the Gospel.
Oh, you’re a baker? What is the difference in leavened and unleavened bread where Jesus says, “Take, eat, this is My body broken for you”? And off you go with the Gospel.
A candlestick maker? Well, you might need to Google that one! But Jesus says that we are not to hide our light under a bushel. And off you go with the Gospel about Jesus coming into the world and being the light of the world. It’s not “rocket surgery”. Just engage the person in conversation on what they know about, because that’s what they’re interested in.
A more confrontational approach might be: Mr Butcher. Have you ever dressed mutton up as lamb? Mr Baker, what’s a baker’s dozen? In other words, have you ever shortchanged anyone? Have you ever stolen? Have you ever told a lie? So, it’s not hard to use God’s Commandments in evangelism.
Ray
Comfort says, “Knowing that God has seen your thought-life and every deed done
in darkness, will you be innocent or guilty on Judgment Day? You know you will
be guilty. So, will you end up in heaven or hell?
“The Law brings individuals to a point of seeing that they have sinned against God – that His wrath abides on them. It causes them to see that their own “goodness” can’t save them. It stops their mouth of justification (Romans 3:19), and prepares the heart for the good news of the gospel.” Ray Comfort, The Evidence Bible, 50.
It’s all to do with the Spirit working with His Word in the individual’s conscience. God’s Commandments convict and God’s Gospel of forgiveness is the balm, the ointment that soothes the convicted conscience and heals the feelings of crushed-ness and broken bones.
Nathan knew he was dealing with a sinner when he was confronting David. And we know that we too are dealing with sinners anytime we try to Gospelise anyone. So, whether they are backslidden Christians or just your basic unbelievers always remember that Jesus is the Saviour of sinners. Therefore, people need to know what they are being saved from – the death and Hell penalty for breaking God’s Law.
Yes, the Gospel is confrontational.
3
The Conversion
Nathan tells David a story which leads David to repent of his sins and believe in the Gospel. He tells David a parable about a poor family that owned a pet lamb. The lamb would eat with them and sleep in the same bed with them. A rich neighbour with large flocks sees the lamb, steals it, and has it slaughtered just to feed some of his guests.
David, what should happen to the man who did this? David gets all self-righteous. It says in 2 Samuel, “David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.’” (2 Sam. 12:5-6).
O David! O David! “Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!’” (2 Sam. 12:7f.). Then Nathan lists all the things that that Lord had done for David. Among other things Nathan says that the Lord says, “I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more” (2 Sam. 12:8).
The penny drops with David. The Spirit with the Word has convicted David in his heart. He has shown David his hypocrisy. The self-righteous mask has been torn from David’s face. He has been exposed. His sin has found him out. So, he “fesses” up. Then “David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’
God’s Law has done its job of conviction. So, here comes the Gospel. So, because of David’s repentant attitude, Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die” (2 Sam. 12:13).
This means, of course, that David will not receive the death penalty. However, this is because God has forgiven him his sins, which also means that he won’t receive the Hell penalty! He has been granted everlasting life!
So, what we have here in Psalm 51 is David’s confession of his guilt and his plea for mercy. He does what we all are supposed to do, as Jesus commands us to do, where He says, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
Therefore, if and when your conscience bothers you, when the Word of God convicts you, even if you are a Christian, do what David did, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
God’s Law is about justice and God’s Gospel is about mercy. David cries out to God for mercy not justice! He says, in verses 1 and 2, 1 “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”
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David has entangled himself in his own web of sin woven by the spider that dwells in David’s own heart. The heart spins a web of deceit. James says, “Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15). David wants the Lord to remove the sticky web of sin from him.
My wife laughs when I refer to the Internet as the Interweb! Whether it’s a net or a web be very careful with it. Don’t let it entangle you in sin!
David goes from being self-righteous, like the Pharisee in the Parable of the Tax collector, to being like the humble tax collector.
“The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” ‘But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (Luke 18:11-13).
Speaking of marriage, I once sent into Births, Deaths, and Marriages the marriage details of a marriage I had conducted. I got told off for using whiteout to cover a mistake I had made. Apparently, the whiteout flakes off after a few years.
In verses 1 and 9 David wants his transgressions and iniquities blotted out. Are you like me? Do you think that you’d need more than whiteout to blot out your sins? A few pails of whitewash paint? Well, like David, we need the blood of Christ to cleanse us of all our iniquities. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
This is what David means in verses 2 and 7 where he says, “2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin” and “7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” In the Old Testament, like a long paintbrush, the hyssop was to be dipped in the blood of the lamb and was used for ritual cleansing and purification.
At the first Passover, Israel was to “slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the door-frame” (Exod. 12:21-22). And no doubt Moses used it in Exodus 24, “Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exod. 24:8).
This blood-sprinkling is spoken of in the New Testament where it says, e.g., “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22) and “Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood” (1 Pet. 1:2).
So, when David says to the Lord, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” he is not talking about having whiteout applied to his sin, or buckets of whitewash covering his iniquities. He is talking about the blood of Christ cleansing his heart by blotting out his sins and giving him a clear conscience.
That’s what happens whenever someone like David or you or me repents and believes in the Gospel!
Conclusion
Remember, David wrote this psalm, Psalm 51, so that we could all sing God’s praises about the time he repented of his sins and believed in the Gospel. Therefore, if you or I or anyone you know were to repent of our sins and believe in the gospel, we too would have the blood that Christ shed on the cross sprinkled over all your sins blotting them out forever.
Will
you heed this Gospel Guidance?
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