Sermon Series: A SUMMER IN THE PSALMS

Psalm 51
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 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. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may 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 uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
0 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart--these, O God, You will not despise.
Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem.
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.

Message:
We have come to the closing message from this great prayer for pardon and restoration. Although the prayer is filled with expressions of repentance and remorse for his sins, David also expresses with profound faith--the God of Heaven, the Almighty, ever-merciful God, will forgive and restore his joy and gladness.

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Today in our study, we have come to verse 9:
"HIDE YOUR FACE FROM MY SINS, AND BLOT OUT ALL MY INIQUITIES."
The second division of the Psalm begins here with the renewed prayer for forgiveness. From the confident assurance of the last two verses, that God would do that which he asked, David now passes to earnest pleading with God.
This is surely what is to be found in all true prayer; it will be marked by fluctuations of feeling; its order will be the order of need, not the order of intellect. Again, David asks for forgiveness first, and then renewal.
"For though God fully and completely forgives," says Calvin, "still the narrowness of our faith does not take in so large a goodness on His part, but it must flow down to us gradually and drop by drop."
SOULS IN AGONY AND DEEP REMORSE HAVE NO SPACE TO FIND VARIETY IN LANGUAGE: PAIN HAS TO CONTENT ITSELF WITH MONOTONES AND GROANINGS. When we are pouring out our souls to God, sentence structure and continuity of thought are not uppermost in our mind!
"Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Romans 8:26)

The aspirations after holiness and glory which He creates in the lives of believers are too deep to be adequately articulated in words. At a certain stage of religious life the accurate form of words is regarded as essential to the efficacy of prayer; but when the human spirit is in closest harmony with the Spirit of God, words may not only prove inadequate; they may even hinder prayer. But God, before whom the thoughts of all are like an open book, recognizes in those unspoken ‘sighs’ deep in his people's hearts the voice of the Spirit interceding for them in tune with His own will, and answers them accordingly.
David's face was ashamed with looking on his sin, and no diverting thoughts could remove it from his memory; but he prays the Lord to do with his sin what he himself cannot. God forgets, but we cannot! Even though we know that we are forgiven, the sins for the past have marked our lives and our memory.

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If God hide not His face from our sin, He must hide it forever from us; and if He blot not out our sins, He must blot our names out of His Book of Life.
DAVID KNEW THAT WHEN HE ASKED GOD TO FORGIVE HIM, THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE VERY CHARACTER OF GOD ASSURED HIM.
"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. (Psalm 103:8-11)
DAVID KNEW GOD AS...THE GOD OF MERCY! As a merciful God, He is full of pity, slow to punish and ready to pardon. It is because of His mercy that we come to know how He regards in pity the sinful and suffering. It is mercy that bears with the sins and insults of the guilty, withholding deserved judgment.
No one of us deserves mercy. To present merit is to destroy mercy. If God showed mercy only to such as are worthy. He would show none at all, for the best are unworthy!
As long as He is God, He will be showing mercy. It is mercy which both overflows and ever-flows! God is essentially merciful in Himself. Mercy is not only one of His precious virtues, it is an integral part of His own being.
THIS WAS THE GOD THAT DAVID TRUSTED TO PARDON HIS SIN.
Micah 7:18
"Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy."
Titus 3:5
"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
After the prayer of forgiveness, there follows now the prayer for renewal and sanctification.
"CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART, O GOD, AND RENEW A STEAD FAST SPIRIT WITHIN ME." (Verse 10)

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The word CREATE is always used strictly of the creative power of God. The whole spiritual being of the man, had as it were, fallen into chaos. The pure heart and the childlike feeling of confidence could only return as a new creation.
Paul picks up this thought in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
In the seventh verse he asked to be clean; now David seeks a heart suitable to that cleanliness; but he does not say, "Make my old heart clean; he is too experienced in the hopelessness of the old nature. He would have the old man buried as a dead thing, and a new creation brought in to fill its place.
Salvation is a marvelous display of supreme power; the work in us as much as that for us is wholly of Omnipotence. The heart is the rudder of the soul, and till the Lord takes it in hand we steer in a false and destructive course which ends in death and hell.
When David prays for a clean heart, he is asking God to do a work of REGENERATION within him. Regeneration is not the improvement of the old nature, but the impartation of a new nature. God will have nothing to do with the old Adamic nature with which we were "born into the wrong family." It stands forever condemned (Romans 6:6). Regeneration is not a mere outward reformation, or the turning over of a new leaf, but the bringing in of a new life--a life that can never be developed or earned. DAVID IS ASKING GOD FOR A DIVINE TRANSFORMATION OF HIS INNER SELF!
And he continues his prayer:
"RENEW A STEADFAST SPIRIT WITHIN ME."
A steadfast spirit is, firm in the faith, not easily swayed hither and thither through its own weakness or by blasts of temptation, and therefore also firm and constant in obedience.
Paul gives these words of admonition to the Romans: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:1-2)

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Again, another definition of a STEADFAST SPIRIT is firmness, persistence, and determination in one's endeavors.
Joshua 23:8
"But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now."
1 Corinthians 15:58
"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
1 Peter 5:9
"Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are going through the same kind of sufferings."
2 Peter 3:17
"Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position."
Ephesians 4:11-14
"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting....."
"CAST ME NOT AWAY FROM THY PRESENCE AND TAKE NOT THY HOLY SPIRIT FROM ME." (Verse 11)
Some Bible scholars see an allusion partly to the exclusion of the leper from the congregation; others see in this prayer David's deep concern that God not reject the nation of Israel from His favor because of his sin. But I think what must have been uppermost on David's mind in uttering these words was his memory of Saul, the king that served the nation of Israel just before his reign. David had observed a man appointed to the high position of king, misuse his position and authority, disobey the commands of God, and eventually God withdrew His Spirit from him, and Saul died a tragic death!

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Saul, the first king of Israel, is one of the most striking and tragic figures in the Old Testament. If we are at all sensitive as to the supreme values and vital issues of human life, the story of Saul will challenge us. In some ways he is very big; in others very little. In some ways he is commandingly handsome; in others definitely ugly. He began so reassuringly, but declined so disappointingly, and ended so wretchedly, that the downgrade process which ruined him becomes monumental to all who will give heed.
The story of his life begins in the early part of First Samuel and the book ends with his tragic death on the battle field.
Never did a young man give fairer promise or find brighter possibilities greeting his young manhood. To begin with, he was distinguished by a striking physical superiority. He is described as "a choice young man, and a goodly; there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he; from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people" (1 Sam. 9:2).
Secondly, young Saul showed certain HIGHLY COMMENDABLE QUALITIES OF DISPOSITION. Modesty, discreetness, generous spirit, considerateness of his father, his dash and courage, his capacity for strong love, his energetic antagonism to such evils as spiritism, and his evident moral purity in social relationships--these marked this young man's nature and character.
Third, there were special gifts which God gave him when he became king. We read, "God gave him another heart so that he became another man." (1 Sam. 10:6,9). Again, "the Spirit of God came upon him so that he prophesied" (1 Sam. 10:10). Nor is this all: he was given a "band of men whose hearts God had touched" (1 Sam. 10:26).
This was the young Saul of fair promise!
And God selected him to be the first king of Israel. "Then Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah, and said to the children of Israel, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I brought up Israel out of Egypt and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all kingdoms and from those who oppress you.
But you have today rejected your God, who Himself saved you from all your adversities and your tribulations; and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us!’ Now therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans." (1 Sam. 10:17-19).

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Alas, Saul's early promise is a morning sky soon overcast with sullen clouds. Defection, declension, degeneration, disaster--that is the dismal downgrade which now sets in until this giant-hero drops as a haggard suicide into ignominious death.
His first defection occurred early. IT WAS AN ACT OF IRREVERENT PRESUMPTION. When Samuel did not seem to be coming before the appointed time expired, Saul, in willful impatience, violated the priest's prerogative, and foolishly presumed to offer up with his own hand the prearranged sacrifices to the Lord. He violated that obedience to the voice of God through the prophet which was a basic condition of theocratic kingship. Samuel's rebuke was, "Saul, thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of Jehovah."
The next default follows quickly. It is an act of RASH WILLFULNESS. Using Jonathan as his instrument, God spreads confusion among the Philistines. Israel's watchmen report what they see. Saul calls the priest, to ask God for guidance, but with stupid impatience cuts short the enquiry and rushes his men off without guidance.
But in chapter 15 of First Samuel comes still graver failure. IT IS A BLEND OF DISOBEDIENCE AND DECEIT. Saul is told to destroy utterly the vile Amalekites; but he spares the king and the best livestock. Then he equivocates to Samuel. He slips blame for the booty on to the people. He even pretends the booty is for sacrifice to Jehovah! Humility had now given place to arrogance! From this point the decline is steep.
1 Samuel 16:14 says: "But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him."
He gives way to a petty jealousy until it becomes a fiendish malice--against David.
David watched a mighty man begin to dwindle and disintegrate before his very eyes when the Spirit of God was taken from him.
The last tragic act in the mournful drama of this man is depicted in chapters 27 to 31 of First Samuel. His downgrade course at length brings him to the witch of Endor, as an embittered and desolate-hearted fugitive from doom. This giant wreck of a man who once enjoyed direct counsel from heaven now traffics with the underworld! Witchcraft and then suicide! Saul is no more. He lies a corpse, with lovely Jonathan. How are the mighty fallen! How is this son of the morning brought to shame!

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As we see this man Saul come from such heights to such depths, do we not ask what it was which lay behind his fearful self-frustration? IT WAS SELF-WILL. Saul's two besetting sins were PRESUMPTION AND DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD; and behind both these was impulsive, unsubdued SELF-WILL. David had watched Saul's tragic downfall, and he knew what it was to have the Spirit of God taken from a man! In sad and awesome tones the voice of Saul still speaks, and we do well to heed!
He preaches to us that THE ONE VITAL CONDITION FOR THE TRUE FULFILLMENT OF LIFE IS OBEDIENCE TO THE WILL OF GOD. We are not the independent proprietors of our own beings. We are God's property. He has made us kings and queens over our own personalities with their gifts and powers and possibilities; but our rule is meant to be theocratic, not an independent, self-directed monarchy! We are meant to rule for God, so that our lives and personalities may fulfill His will and accomplish His purpose. When we obstinately rule independently of God our true kingship breaks down; we lose the true meaning and purpose of life. In greater or lesser degree we "play the fool."
But Saul teaches us another important truth...THAT TO LET "SELF" GET THE UPPER HAND IN OUR LIFE IS TO MISS THE BEST AND COURT THE WORST. David set aside the commandments of God which he knew, let his passion take over, sinned the sin of adultery and then murder...and the rest of his life he paid the price for that transgression! The sword never left his house!
Every man who lets "self" fill his vision till it blinds his inner eye to what is really true and Divine is "playing the fool." The downgrade process in our life may not be as outwardly observable as it was with Saul, simply because we do not occupy as conspicuous a position, but we are just as really playing the fool, and our ultimate corruption is just as certain.
We bring this lesson to a close with this solemn thought..."God's Spirit will not always strive with men."
Many hold to a theological position that it is impossible to loose the Spirit of God from our lives once we have been indwelt by Him...and this position has many verses to support it...but here is a man, Saul, who in reality experienced the tragic and eternal loss of God's Spirit and was forever banished from God's presence. Saul admitted that "God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore!" (1 Samuel 28:15).