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What True Repentance Means - R. Barber · Faith On A Hill

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  Scripture reading this morning is Psalm 51, 7 through 10.
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  Psalm 51, 7 through 10.
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  Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.
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  Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
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  Make me here joy and gladness, that the bones you have broken may rejoice.
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  Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
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  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit.
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  Within me.
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  Tiger Woods, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Clinton, Lance Armstrong, what do these men have in common?
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  All five of them were successful, they were influential, they're recognized worldwide.
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  But there's something else that they have in common.
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  Each one of those men became involved in a public scandal that involved wrongdoing, which was initially denied, concealed, or minimized.
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  Bill Clinton, he denied a relationship with Monica Lewinsky before eventually acknowledging it.
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  Tiger Woods, he concealed the extent of his adultery ah before publicly admitting his adultery.
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  Arnold Schwarzenegger kept the fact that he had fathered a child outside of his marriage from the public for years.
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  Lance Armstrong spent years defending himself against uh accusations of cheating, and then he eventually came clean for his doping.
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  And so what is the difference between
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  Being sorry for what you've done and being sorry because you've gotten caught.
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  You see, sometimes we are more concerned about protecting our reputation than acknowledging our wrongdoing.
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  Sometimes we make excuses and we try to blame others, we minimize our actions, and we try to conceal what we've done.
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  We've seen it time and time again when the world's sins are exposed, they're not sorry about their sins, but rather they are angry over the fact that they were exposed andor
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  caught, if you will.
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  They say things like, I'm sorry if anyone was offended, or mistakes were made.
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  It was a moment of weakness.
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  However, when we are convicted, we are sorry that we are sinful.
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  We should not necessarily be angry because we were our sin was revealed.
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  David in Psalm 51, he shows us what it means to be convicted of our sins and what it means to take ownership of our sins, leading to true repentance.
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  Today I want to highlight three points from Psalm 51 and what it means to have true repentance.
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  And before I dive into my points, I just want to, just a quick background context, a refresher for our minds.
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  On what David's sin was.
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  In 2 Samuel 11 and 12, we read about David, who was on the rooftop of his palace, and he sees a woman bathing.
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  We come to know that her name was Bathsheba, and she was the wife of Uriah the Hittites.
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  David and Bathsheba they commit adultery, and she becomes pregnant with his child.
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  David tries to cover up this adultery by sending Uriah home from battle so that he could lay with his wife.
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  However, that plan backfires because David does not end up sleeping at home, but rather he sleeps outside the palace.
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  So when David's plan fails, he arranges for the death of Uriah in battle.
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  And David's sin, it shows pride, it shows lust, deceit, and abuse of power.
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  And so David was confronted by the prophet Nathan about this sin, and that sets the stage for Psalm 51 and the opening verses, which is our first point today.
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  Appeal to God's mercy.
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  Appeal to God's mercy.
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  Psalm 51, 1 and 2.
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  Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness.
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  According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
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  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
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  Sin is a transgression of God's law.
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  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law.
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  For sin is the transgression of the law.
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  First John 3 4.
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  Sin is not a mistake or a weakness, it is lawlessness.
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  It is a violation of God's will.
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  David begins this psalm with acknowledging God and not himself.
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  So David is appealing to God's character.
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  He says, Have mercy upon me according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender.
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  Mercies.
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  By acknowledging God first, David shows his humility.
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  He's not making it about himself.
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  This is like someone who stands before a judge and he does not argue for his innocence.
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  He does not try to explain to the judge why it is someone else's fault or why he should be let go.
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  I don't know if you've ever noticed, but even when someone is guilty, they're generally pleading not guilty, even though they know they were guilty themselves.
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  However, David is the opposite.
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  He knows he's guilty.
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  He's appealing for mercy.
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  This is an example for us as Christians today.
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  Whether we're in the workplace, whether we're at school, with our friends, or with our families, when we sin, do not make it about us nor make excuses.
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  But instead, we must appeal to the person we wronged, acknowledging that we made a mistake.
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  But ultimately, we must not recognize that.
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  Our sins were not only against that person if applicable, but ultimately our sins are against God.
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  We have transgressed God's law even if it was unintentional.
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  The story of Abimelech highlights this truth and how our sins are not just against other people, but ultimately they're against God.
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  Even when a sin is unintentional, it's still a transgression of God's law, and it must be dealt with before Him.
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  And so David says, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
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  David uses multiple words to describe his sin.
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  He calls it transgression, iniquity, sin.
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  This highlights how serious he is on his part, recognizing the seriousness of sin.
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  That word transgression, it can be translated as uh similar to committing a crime.
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  And so if in America, if we were to commit a crime, we would face serious consequences.
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  Something that is a crime is an offense to local, state, or federal laws.
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  Likewise, as Christians, we can learn from David's plea for mercy.
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  When we commit sin, it is a crime against God.
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  And David is not taking that lightly, and neither should we.
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  This is a great lesson for us to recognize that the seriousness of sin and to acknowledge it when it happens.
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  Not making light of the situation or using a name other than what we are doing to make it appear not as sin.
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  The world tries to downplay sin by giving it a different name that carries the idea of it being casual or common.
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  They call adultery affairs, infidelity, friends with benefits, entanglements, sneaky links, flings.
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  Proverbs 14, 9.
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  Fools mock at sin, but among the upright there is favor.
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  When we downplace sin, we become comfortable with it.
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  And so, unlike David, where he appealed to God's mercy, he recognized who God is.
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  David now turns to what he has done.
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  Having cast upon himself that compassion of God, he's not general, he's not vague, he's very specific.
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  And so reverses three through six.
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  We see in Psalm 51, David moves from responsibility, excuse me, he moves from acknowledging God's mercy to responsibility, which is our second point: confession without
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  excuse.
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  Verses 3 through 6.
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  For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
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  Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight.
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  Then you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge.
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  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
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  Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part you will make me known, make me to know wisdom.
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  I want to highlight real quick that verse five.
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  Uh, verse five, I'll read it again.
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  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
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  On a s just a side note, that verse is commonly used by denominations to support the idea that we're born in sin.
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  Or the idea of total heredity hereditary hereditary depravity, that we inherit sin from our parents all the way back to Adam.
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  We know from scripture that that idea is false.
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  Ezekiel 18:20, the soul who sinned shall die, the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor the father bear the iniquity of the son.
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  The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
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  David in verse five, he's using hyperbole.
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  It's a form of poetry.
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  He was not born in sin.
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  He's just emphasizing poetically the depth of his sin.
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  We see this also in Psalm 58.3.
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  The wicked are estranged from the womb.
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  They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
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  And so infants are not speaking lies as soon as they're born.
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  It's just uh that poetic license, if you will, to emphasize um the point.
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  And so d David, he's he's acknowledged he's acknowledging his guilt honestly.
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  That shows his true repentance.
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  In these verses, they should David is taking ownership of his sin.
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  He says that his sin is ever present in his conscience.
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  His sin is primarily against God, even though others are harmed or face consequences because of that sin.
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  And that teaches us that not only when we sin against God, it it can also affect others as well.
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  For example, if we were to consume alcohol and we become intoxicated and decide to drive and end up getting into an accident, injuring or even harming others, ultimately our sin
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  is against God, even though others are involved or affected by it.
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  And David, he acknowledges this.
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  There's a book written by Jocko Willink, and it's called Extreme Ownership.
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  Jocko was a Navy SEAL, and the main premise of his book is.
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  We must take extreme ownership of our decisions, especially not only for ourselves, but the people that are under us as well as leaders.
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  David extreme exhibits this extreme ownership before God.
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  He doesn't mention Bathsheba.
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  He doesn't blame the circumstances.
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  He doesn't call it a moment of weakness.
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  He doesn't minimize it.
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  He simply says, I have sinned.
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  And
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  If we are going to exhibit true repentance as Christians, we must do the same.
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  David's repentance stands in sharp contrast to King Saul in 1 Samuel 15.
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  King Saul spared King Agag's life and he kept the spoils of war.
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  And when Saul was confronted, he did say, I have sinned, but he surrounded those words with excuses.
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  He blamed the people, he justified his choices.
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  He minimized God's command.
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  Saul confessed, but he did not take ownership.
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  And scripture says the Lord rejected him as king.
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  And so as Christians, let us not confess like Saul, where we admit the act, but we defend our heart or our intent.
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  Don't say I did it, but David shows us that in order to have true repentance, Christians cannot confess while excusing.
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  We must take full responsibility of our sin before God because repentance without ownership is not repentance at all.
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  But David doesn't stop with ownership.
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  True repentance never ends with I have sinned.
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  Confession is the doorway, not the destination.
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  Once sin is owned, something must change.
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  And that leads us to our third point of the psalm, which is a commitment to repentance and obedience.
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  Commitment to repentance and obedience.
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  Verses thirteen through seventeen.
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  Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted to you.
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  Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
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  O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth your praise.
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  For you do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it.
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  You do not delight in burnt offering.
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  The sacrifices of God.
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  Are a broken spirit, a broken and con and a contrite heart.
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  These, O God, you will not despise.
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  True repentance produces obedience, not silence.
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  David says he will teach transgressors God's ways, and sinners will be converted to you.
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  He says his tongue will sing aloud the right about the righteousness of God.
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  David desires to praise God openly.
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  And so true repentance is a broken spirit.
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  And a broken and contrite heart.
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  This continues the thought of extreme ownership.
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  If we're truly repentant as Christians, we will not only be humble, acknowledging God, but we will also not be proud, but instead be broken.
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  Just as we transgress God's law or broken it, that should match the attitude of our hearts.
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  Zacchaeus is a powerful example of this kind of repentance.
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  When Jesus came to his house, Zacchaeus said,
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  Zacchaeus did not only confess that he was wrong, he said, If I have taken anything from any man, I restore him fourfold.
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  And so his repentance changed his conduct.
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  He didn't only feel broken, he acted differently.
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  Jesus said in response to that, This day is salvation come to this house.
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  That is Psalms 51: repentance.
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  Repentance that leads to obedience.
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  As Christians, we must do more than just external worship.
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  Faith without works is dead, James 2, 17.
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  In the same sense that we must have fruits of our faith, our repentance must be the same.
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  We must not just say sorry on the outside, but we and have no internal change.
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  But rather, true repentance is turning away from sin we've done and committing to obedience to God's word.
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  Bill Clinton, Tiger Woods, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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  Lance Armstrong, they were not sorry for their sin.
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  They were sorry that they got caught.
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  When we put all these points together, you see that true repentance begins by appealing to God's mercy and not self-justification.
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  Genuine confession takes extreme ownership of sin without excuses, recognizing that while others may be affected, all sin is ultimately against God.
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  And so sin must be named honestly.
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  And treated seriously, not minimized or softened, because it is a transgression of God's law.
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  Real repentance produces a broken and contrite heart, a heart full of humility and not pride.
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  True repentance leads to obedience and a visible change.
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  Repentance is not just words, but a commitment to righteous living.
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  David teaches us that repentance is not an apology, it is a return to God.
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  It is not damage control, it is a heart change.
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  And it is not about saving face, but it's about saving your soul.
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  How wonderful that we have a merciful, Almighty God.
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  Because David should have been put to death because of his sins.
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  Yet, even though God allowed him to live, he was still not without consequence of his sins.
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  And likewise, as Christians,
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  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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  First John 1 9.
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  This is available to all those who are part of the body of Christ, those who have called upon the name of the Lord by hearing his word, believing it, repenting of our sins,
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  confessing that Jesus is the Son of God, being baptized by immersion, not because you were already saved.
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  But because you needed to be saved through that watery grave, if you are not a member of the Lord's Church, we would love nothing more than to make that possible right now.
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  If you have any need at all, please come as we stand and sing this song of encouragement.