Introduction:
Why Should I Confess from My Heart? (Psalm 51)
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Because My God is MERCIFUL AND LOVING (Ps 51:1–2)
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Because My Sin INSULTS GOD (Ps 51:3–6)
2 Samuel 12:9 – “Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in His sight?”
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Because My Heart NEEDS RENOVATION (Ps 51:7–12)
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Because My Worship and Witness is HINDERED BY HIDDEN SIN (Ps 51:13–19)
James 5:16 – Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
Small Group Discussion
Read Psalm 51
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Why is sin such a big deal in the life of the Christian and why must it be confessed? What happens if you don’t confess sin but keep it hidden?
What often keeps you from confessing your sin to God? What often keeps you from confessing your sin to other believers?
Breakout
Separate by gender and confess your sin to one another. Encourage and pray for one another.
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Who has ever received a bad haircut?
Don't point to the person next to you. I'm asking you personally that'd be really rude
When I was a kid back in the mid 90s, I got a bad haircut
My barber really messed up my bowl cut
And that may sound like an oxymoron because you think well a bowl cuts already kind of messed up
And they're all kind of lame, but mine actually look pretty good
for bull cuts except for this one time
And for the rest of this story, I'm gonna shift to my mom's perspective to give the story some more dramatic weight
So we get home from the haircut
Later on that day my mom goes into the bathroom to find quite the crime scene
There's hair everywhere and there are scissors right on the sink
My mom didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out what had happened because there is an abundance of evidence right in front of her face
I had obviously tried to fix my bowl cut and made it way worse in the process
And like any good detective my mom tried to get me to confess
She came up to me and said Taylor
Did you cut your hair?
I said no I didn't
Even though there's a huge chunk missing right out of the front of my bull cut
So my mom tried a different approach
Well, I found hair in the sink. I found scissors and there's a huge chunk just gone from your hair
And I kept digging my own graves. No that lady messed it up
And my mom tried one last attempt. She said Taylor
You're not gonna be in trouble for cutting your hair
But you will be in trouble if you keep lying and you don't tell the truth
Well, that was the final straw
I finally broke down and I confessed like in one of those over-the-top crime dramas on TV
I told my mom everything even though she already knew everything
And I'm sure that many of you have a similar story to tell
Isn't it interesting that no one has to train you to cover up what you're ashamed of
It comes so naturally to you
It started at a young age and even continues to this day
You knock over something very valuable in your house as a kid and it shatters on the ground
What do you do?
You pick up all the pieces and you try to hide it somewhere, right?
But you're just a kid so you're hiding place stinks and your parents find it almost immediately
You hit your brother or sister and they start to weep and to wail
What's your response?
You cover their mouth and threaten him or her to not tattle to your parents
You finally get your driver's license and you promised your parents you will take care of their car
But then you immediately scratch it
What do you do?
You try to buff out that scratch and try to cover it up with the cheapest paint you can find
Or how about now?
At work you make a very serious and embarrassing
mistake
What's your first blush response?
To say nothing and hope that no one notices what you did
Hiding is easy
Coming clean is hard
You and I struggle to confess our sins to other people and we also struggle to tell God everything that we have done
Even though he already knows
What we have done
This reluctance to be honest about our failures reveals that we have deep issues within our hearts that we cannot
ignore
There's a second week of our latest series heart problems what to do when you don't want God
No matter who you are or how long you've been a Christian you have a heart problem of some kind right now
Maybe it's spiritual laziness
Maybe it's indifference to the things of God
Maybe it's a lack of connection with the Lord in prayer or maybe it's serious doubts that you have about the Christian faith or a
habitual sin
That is hidden
All of these problems require a surgical solution and not a quick fix
Last week we studied the parable of the sower and unpacked the importance of evaluating our hearts to see how serious
of a heart surgery the Lord needs to give us
This morning we will dig into Psalm 51 as the Lord lays out the importance of another surgical solution that we must cooperate with and
participate in
Confession of sin
Is this the most popular of topics in the church today?
Sin is often affirmed and accepted rather than confessed
And this is why there are so many unhealthy and dying churches
This is why there are so many unhealthy
human hearts within those churches
That are spiritually withering away
For you to get better the infection of hidden sin needs to be pulled out by the root and the method of that extraction is
heartfelt confession
to the Lord and
Your natural response to a message like this a passage like this will be to inwardly cross your arms and dig in your heels
And I want to plead with you not to do that
Lower your defenses and prepare your heart for what God is going to command you to do
So let's go to the Lord and ask for his help because we certainly need it
Father we come to you and we admit that we so often hide from you
We're like Adam and Eve
Foolishly hiding in the garden when you can see them right there
Lord there are people in this room who have others fooled, but they do not have you fooled I
Pray that today would be the day of
Revealing what has been hidden to others of
Confessing to you what you already know
And we thank you for the healing we thank you for the change that you will bring through this genuine confession
We ask all these things in Jesus name amen
The turn your Bibles to Psalm 51
Psalm 51
It's important to note that you should never skip the descriptions at the beginning of many of the Psalms because these descriptions
Give you helpful background information
Skipping these descriptions would be like fast-forwarding through the first two minutes of Star Wars as
The music blast the logo appears and the background text of the story
Scrolls on the screen in front of you if you fast forward through that
You're gonna miss a lot of helpful background information that will really lead you not fully understand the story
And the same is true for this description at the beginning of Psalm 51 if you skip it
You're not gonna understand why David wrote it in the first place
So let's see what he says to the choir master a Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet
Went to him after he had gone in
to Bathsheba
David may have been a great king of Israel and a man after God's own heart
But he was not free from sin and heart problems far from it. He committed adultery
and murder
He had sex with a woman who was not his wife
And he thought everything was under wraps
And no one knew but then Bathsheba
Gets pregnant and the problem is she's married to a man named Uriah
Instead of confessing what he had done David decides to have Uriah killed in battle
Then he moves
Bathsheba into his house they get married and they have their child
It seems once again
That David got away with these things got free
But he had
Who was the one who saw what David had done?
God himself the one who sees all things
We were told this in 2nd Samuel 11 27, but the thing that David had done
displeased
the Lord
And God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David in his sin and thankfully David doesn't cross his arms and dig in his heels
No, he confesses
And he acknowledges what he had done
And he accepts the consequences for his sin
Which is the death of his son who was a result of this affair
And violent division within his own family
moving forward
And after this confrontation David writes one of the rawest most hard-hitting songs in the entire bible in Psalm 51
David honestly confessed his sin
from the heart
I know what you may be wondering after all this setup
Taylor i'm certainly not a perfect person. I've made mistakes in the past. I've never done anything as bad as David
I'm actually a pretty good person. I'm nice to other people. Why should I?
confess from my heart
Some of you have a different thought that has that ends with the same exact question
I see why David should confess his sin. He lived in the old testament
But i'm a christian living after the new testament. I'm covered by the grace of jesus christ. All of my sin has been forgiven. Why should I?
confess
from my heart
Well, that is a great question that we're going to spend the rest of this message answering. Why should I?
Confess from my heart
Reason number one because my god is merciful
and loving
My god is merciful
and loving
David kicks off this psalm by getting as low as he can as fast as he can
He humbles himself before his maker and admits his need for compassion
In verses one through two. Let's read that together
Have mercy on me. Oh god
According to your steadfast love according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me
from my sin
David makes zero excuses for his sin
He doesn't try to minimize what he has done or try to lessen its seriousness
Like celebrities and politicians who get caught in underhanded scandals
You know what i'm talking about, right? You've received those press conferences
Or statements from famous people that are non apologetic
apologies
Oh, what I did was unfortunate. I got caught up in a moment of weakness. I'm sorry if what I did offended anyone
Aka what I did wasn't that bad so lighten up
David doesn't do any of this soft peddling nonsense
He describes his affair in three different ways
as transgression
as iniquity
and as sin
And these three words cross over with one another but communicate different aspects of the same concept
Transgression is purposeful rebellion
Iniquity is perversion a twisting of god's ways and intentions
Sin is falling short and missing the mark of god's holy standard
David is brutally honest here because he knows that he has abused his role as king to satisfy his own evil desires
David knows that he deserves nothing good from god
But david also knows that he serves a god who is willing to forgive
Anyone of anything if that person comes to him in repentance and faith
David knows that he shouldn't run away from the one who is ready
to embrace him
If you have not yet turned from your sin and trusted in christ, what are you waiting for?
I have to be honest with you
You are not a good person
I am not a good person
You may not have ordered a hit on someone else like david, but you are just as guilty as him of
Perversion, iniquity, and sin
You have rebelled against god's rightful rule and authority
You have perverted how life should be lived
You have fallen away short of god's perfect and holy standard
You are far more wicked than you could possibly understand
But god is far more gracious than you could ever imagine
God wants to show you mercy
He doesn't want to give you what you deserve, which is eternal punishment in hell
God wants to give you what you don't deserve, which is grace
Eternal joy in heaven
God wants to show you his steadfast love and his abundant mercy
He wants to blot out your transgressions and erase all record of your evil deeds
He wants to wash you thoroughly of your iniquity and cleanse you of all your sin
But god will only do those things if you ask him to
If you humble yourself before him like david and make no excuses for your evil desires and decisions
Your heart problem may be that your heart is spiritually dead
It needs to be brought to new life in christ
If that's the case confess your sin for the very first time and plead for christ's forgiveness and he will
Give it to you
He will fix your heart problem
He will give you the solution which is faith in jesus christ and what he achieved by dying on the cross and rising again
Please don't let your pride keep you from the abundant
Mercy and steadfast love of god
Why should i confess from my heart?
Reason number two because my sin insults god
Because my sin insults god
David goes even deeper in verses three through six to reveal why his sin and your sin
Is such a big deal. Let's read that together for i know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me
Against you you only have i sinned and done what is evil in your sight
So that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgments
Behold i was brought forth in iniquity and incended my mother conceived me
Behold you delight in truth in the inward being and you teach me wisdom
in the secret heart
David has a constant reminder of his affair and murder right in front of him all the time
In the form of basheba
I think that's one of the reasons why he says my sin is ever before me
Every single time he sees basheba. He remembers that he took her when she didn't belong to him
And he ended the life of her first husband uraya who was a man of great integrity
Yes, he wronged this woman. Yes, he wronged her husband, but they're not the ones that david is most concerned about wronging
Listen again to verse four against you. You only have i sinned and done what is evil in your sight
Who is david most concerned about wronging?
The lord
No one matters more than god. So offending him matters more than offending anyone else
Every sinful thought every sinful word action inaction reaction is an insult to god
It is a slap in his face
And this inescapable reality is highlighted when the lord asks a direct question to david through the prophet nathan
In second sancton 12 9
Why have you despised the word of the lord to do what is evil in his sight?
In the following verse god says that david didn't just despise his word. He despised him
When you take the word lightly you take god lightly
When you disobey
God's word
You disobey the one who spoke it into existence
Christians in the room and watching online
I want you to understand what you communicate to god when you choose to do something that you know you shouldn't
Or you fail to do something that you know you should
You are telling god. I love this sin more than I love you
When you click that link and watch that pornographic video you are telling god. I'd rather look at this than behold you in your word
When you gossip and slander you're telling god. I care more about other people think about me than what you think about me
When you lie and cover your tracks you are telling god. I care way more about my comfort
Than honoring you
When you intentionally disrespect your husband
Or selflessly dishonor your wife
You are telling god. I'd rather do things my way than your way
in this marriage
In those moments you dismiss god and act like he is worth nothing to you
How insulting is that?
If that view of your sin doesn't make you want to confess. I don't know what else to tell you
When I am rude and disrespectful to my wife, we are still married
My bad behavior doesn't divorce or separate me from her
In that moment, but it does affect how close I feel to her
And I can't enjoy that closeness that fellowship again until I confess to her
How I have wronged her
If you are a true believer in jesus christ, you confess to draw near to the lord
In fellowship to enjoy a closeness with him that you cannot enjoy when you were holding on to sin and refusing to let it go
You confess because you're already forgiven
You confess because you love god and are loved by god
So often we feel like god forsakes us
But he's not the one who forsakes you
You are the one who forsakes him
The hymn come now founten nails this on the head
Prone to wander lord. I feel it prone to leave the god I love
Does that describe anyone else besides me this morning?
Is your heart problem that you feel distant from the lord because you've been wandering off the path of his word
If that's you admit that you've strayed because he already knows that you have
Confess that you need his help because god is well aware that you already need his help
Draw near to god and scripture promises that he will draw near to you
Why should I confess from my heart third reason because my heart needs renovation
Because my heart needs renovation
In
Verses seven through twelve david continues on with more
Please for god to wash him of what he has done and then he pops the hood so to speak and ask god to work on the engine
of his heart
Purge me with hissup and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be wider than snow
Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice
Hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities
Create in me a clean heart. Oh god and renew a right spirit within me
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with the willing spirit
David asked god to create in him a clean heart
And that hebrew word for create is the same word used in genesis one one when god made everything
In the beginning god created things that were not there to begin with
He did something brand new
And david is asking him god do something brand new and me creating me something that doesn't exist
A heart that desires you a heart that would rather choose you than sin
And david doesn't want this change to be a passing fad or a flash in the pan. He wants it to last
That's why he says renew a right spirit within me
Uphold me
with the willing spirit
In other words god, don't let me be lazy
Don't let me go back to business as usual. Let this change last for the rest of my days
Help me to step into who you've created me to be instead of sliding back into who I used to be
David understands that his life is a marathon not a sprint
He needs to focus on the long term
Not just the short term
And david says something in verse 11 that may have surprised you
Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy spirit from me
Maybe that verse unlocked a new fear within you and you're starting to wonder wait
Can that actually happen? Can god take his spirit away from his people?
You just said that god doesn't forsake his people. Aren't you contradicting yourself?
Well, I don't have the time to fully explain the theology of this verse
So let me try to do my best in 90 seconds. You can even time me if you really want to
In the old testament the holy spirit did not live within god's people
as he does today
Instead he would rush upon people and anoint them for specific tasks and roles
He would empower
the prophets the kings
Judges and others to say and do what god told them to say and do
And one such man was king sall
The first king of visual he certainly looked the part. He was tall dark and handsome, but the problem was his heart
He had a heart problem that was never resolved
He sinned he disobeyed but he didn't truly confess and repent as david would
So god took away his holy spirit from sall
Which also meant that he took away the throne from sall as well
And that's what david is thinking about in this verse god. Don't let me be another sall
Don't take the throne away from me. Don't take your holy spirit and his help away from me
But if you are a follower of christ this side of the cross in the empty tomb
You don't need to share this fear of davids because you are sealed and indwelt by the holy spirit
He has made you into a new creation and given you a changed heart
The holy spirit can never be taken away from you just as your salvation can never be taken away from you
How amazing it is to enjoy the blessings that david longed for
A brand new heart and the constant presence the constant indwelling of the holy spirit
But you and i often take these blessings for granted don't we
We often take advantage of these blessings and acts as if we don't need to do anything
In our personal journey of holiness
Like david asked god to uphold you with a willing spirit
To maintain this heart that has been given to you
You know who likes new stuff
A new car with a new car smell
New shoes that don't stink like a gym locker room
A new phone that can do one do stuff that your old one could not
a new car
How about a new house that doesn't have the issues that your last one did
And i think one of the reasons we like new stuff is that we think we can enjoy a break from maintenance and upkeep
Is that true
That's a really false hope that really goes away very quickly a new car can be trashed in a few days
If you're not diligent in cleaning it out
A new phone can be broken and shattered if you don't have a protective case in screen shield
New shoes will look very old and gross if you don't spray them out every once in a while and clean the dust and the grime that accumulates
I want you to imagine that a wealthy friend has a brand new house built for you free of charge
This house is state-of-the-art everything inside and outside the house looks fantastic
But how fantastic will that house look if you never cut the grass
If you never do any upkeep of any kind if you never keep up with ongoing renovations
As the years pass by
That new house will not look new for very long
The same goes to the new heart that god has gifted to you it needs ongoing maintenance and renovation
This isn't a task you could do once a year really quickly. This is a 24/7 project
And we'll talk about this heart maintenance in even greater detail in two weeks
But for the time being I want you to understand that this heart maintenance includes personal time with the lord in prayer and in his word
Participation in the life of the church not just attend attendance
Participation in the life of the church and yes ongoing confession and repenting of sin
It's hard to maintain a car and keep it running
It's hard to maintain a house and keep it looking presentable
It's way harder to maintain your heart and keep it dialed in to the lord
What's the motivation for this difficult project
What keeps you on task on schedule on mission?
Well, david gives us the answer in verse 12 restore to me the joy of your salvation
You will not continually maintain your heart if you are not continually blown away that you are saved in the first place
You will not constantly confess to your father if you are not thrilled that you belong to him
And you are a part of his family
The moment you take your salvation for granted is the moment you stop growing
Is the moment you stop making progress? It's like all the gas is siphoned out of your tank
Are you running on empty in this current season of life?
If so ask the lord to fill your tank ask him to restore to you the joy of your salvation
Ask that you would once again celebrate
That your name is written in heaven and nothing and no one can scratch it out
Do you know what the best thing about me is?
That I belong to jesus
And if you're a christian the best thing about you is that you belong to jesus
Do you truly believe that this morning?
Is that a truth that's on the forefront of your mind and fills your heart?
If not ask god that it would
Because otherwise you're not going to grow and your heart problem will not be solved
Why should I confess to my heart final reason because my worship and witness is hindered by hidden sin
Because my worship and witness is hindered by hidden sin
Let's wrap up with verses 13 through 19
Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you
Deliver me from blood guiltiness. Oh god. Oh god of my salvation and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness
Oh lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise
For you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it you will not be pleased with the burnt offering
The sacrifices of god are a broken spirit
I'm broken in contrite heart. Oh god, you will not despise
Do good design and your good pleasure build up the walls of jesus
Then
Will you delight and write sacrifices and burn offerings and whole burn offerings then bulls will be offered on your altar
David's heart is broken in contrite
As we studied a few months ago in the beatitudes david is poor in spirit and one who mourns over his sin
David understands that his sin doesn't just affect him
It affects everyone in positions underneath of him
It affects everyone in israel as the nation goes as the king goes so goes the nation
In this section david isn't me focused. He is others
focused
He asked to be used for god's purposes. Listen again to verse 13 that I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will
return to you
david wants to be a living testimony of god's grace and kindness
Verses 14 through 15 deliver me from blood guiltiness. Oh god. Oh god of my salvation
And my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. Oh lord open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise
David wants to demonstrate what it truly looks like
to holy worship god
Verse 18 do good design and your good pleasure build up the walls of jr.
David doesn't want to hoard all the blessing for himself. He wants jr.
And all of israel to experience the blessing of god as well
David isn't interested in keeping his sin a secret any longer
He's ready to go public with it and one of the ways he does this is by writing this psalm that we are reading
right now
Think about it. How many transgressors have been taught? How many sinners have returned to god because of this psalm?
How many countless numbers of sins have been confessed because david gives us a clear example of how to do this
In a godly way, but this wouldn't have happened if david kept his sin a secret and only confessed it to god
Confession increased david's worship and
strengthened his witness
And the same can be true for you as well
confession will increase your worship
and strengthen your witness
But the problem is you often believe the exact opposite
You think to yourself, I don't want to ruin my testimony. So I'll just keep my struggles to myself
I won't tell anyone about my failures except god
That is a horrible plan
That plan is pride disguised as humility
That plan is self-interest disguised as an outward focus
Please listen to me. There is only one sinless person in all of existence
And this person is without a doubt not you or me
No one will benefit
From a false image of your fake perfection
People will only benefit from a true image of your genuine confession
How many unbelievers could you point to the forgiveness of christ by sharing how you have experienced his forgiveness
How many fellow believers can you remind can you remind them of that?
It is a good and godly thing to be transparent in the body of christ
You can model that because so often we think this isn't a safe place
But this should be the safest place to confess our sins and be honest with one another
For the rest of my life, I'll never forget one particular night at Geneva college during my freshman year
When my guy friends and I were completely honest with one another about what we struggled with
And to a man we all admitted that we at one point had struggled with pornography use
I'll never forget the looks on people's faces. Everyone was shocked. We were all amazed because each guy thought he was the only one
Because that's how satan wanted us to feel
alone
isolated self
condemning
No one wants you to confess your sin less than satan
He doesn't want you to confess to god
He doesn't want you to confess to others because then you will receive love
And prayer that will help you to make those needed changes
Listen to james 516
Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another
That you may be healed
It is so healing to shine a light on what you've kept in the dark
It is so freeing to unearth what you've kept covered up
It is such a blessing to share what you have done to a person who is ready to build you up
with the truths of the gospel
You don't need to hide your sins any longer because god himself has already hidden his face from your sin
As we close let me ask you what sins are you so desperate to keep hidden?
What are you holding on to and refusing to confess to god and to those who are willing to help you?
Maybe it's a sexual sin of some kind
Maybe it's a substance abuse problem. Maybe it's an anger issue or a pattern of lying
Maybe you've destroyed someone's reputation and they don't even know it
Maybe it's an all-consuming worry that no one knows the full extent of besides you and god
Whatever it is you can and should confess it to the lord and your loved ones today
Not next week when you've had more time to think about it because you're just going to talk yourself out of it in the meantime
Not when it's more easy and convenient. No, it's never going to be easy and convenient to confess your sin do it today
But I know what some of you are thinking taylor you just don't get it
If I share this secret my life will be ruined. I'm going to hurt so many people
Well over the past 10 years in ministry, I've had people confess some doozies to me
And then to other people who need to know
And guess what it was hard. It was painful, but they survived
And most those people not only survive they are thriving right now. They are closer to god than ever before
If you don't plan to confess to god
That tells me that you may not truly understand his saving grace
If you don't plan to confess to others that tells me that you don't actually plan to change
You should confess from your heart because god is ready to pour out his love and mercy upon you
You should confess from your heart because you shouldn't want to indulge in what insults god
You should confess from your heart because you are in desperate need of renovation
You should confess from your heart because hidden sin will shipwreck your worship of god and your witness
to everyone
There is no better place to come and confess our sin in the table of the lord supper
This god-given meal reminds you of god's
Given solution to your heart problem
The sacrifice of his one and only son
Jesus christ came down from heavens that you could join him there
Someday
His heart was set upon the cross so that your heart could be transformed and set to worship him forever
and ever
As you come to the lord and communion
withhold nothing from him
Because he withholds nothing from you
Our servers can now make their way forward as well as the worship team
You don't need to belong to this church to take part in the lord supper
But you do need to belong to jesus christ
If you have not yet confessed your sins and asked jesus to save you please remain seated
But please don't just tune out
Please consider
How your sin has offended god
How it has hurt others and how it has damaged your own soul
But also find hope in the fact that you can lay those sinful burdens down at the foot of the cross
And receive forgiveness today