SPIRITUAL PARENTHOOD 4- RAISING A GODLY SEED-Train and Teach

Pro 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 

Imagine you decided that you would like to get in shape and you discovered a gym very close to your house.The gym promises you a trainer, who will teach you the exercises, and you know, you would like that very much. So you register there and go to the shop to buy a new set of sweats pants.

On your first day at the gym you arrive early, your towel hanging down your neck, trendy trainers on your feet and you had used an extra amount of deodorant because you expect to sweat. You are ready for the hard work it would take to get you in shape.

You are slightly surprised to be ushered into an air-conditioned room and told to wait for your trainer. A few minutes later, a fat man in a three piece suit, and who is in worse shape than you, comes in. You think in your mind that this guy would need a lot of work to get rid of that bulging stomach and should have come with his gym cloths. 

You turn your attention from him, continue waiting for them to introduce you to your trainer and for the exercises to commence. You are told that this fat man that just walked in, is your trainer! He then proceeds to go to the board and teach you about all the benefits of exercises and the different exercises you should do.Which muscles it enhances. He ends his lecture and walks out. How would you feel?

I have taken time to outline this lengthy illustration because when we understand it and then read the scripture above we can better understand what the bible says. 

A lot of us are trying to get our kids to do, what we don't do!  We are like an out of shape trainer who knows the words.

Many of us are teaching our children and expect them to go and do what we have taught them while there is a place of teaching, which I would explain shortly, the bible tells us to train. 

If we teach without training, then we are like that gym stated above, and I am sure a lot of us would demand a refund from them. We would not be interested in what they offer.

Friend, do you do what you tell your kids to do. Have you modeled the godly character to them.

Do you tell them to exercise faith, but have never exercised faith? Do you tell them to pray, but don't? 

It is good to do what we tell our children to do but can you also imagine that this same gym, instead of an out of shape trainer has a trainer with a well toned body who comes and does the same thing of teaching you about exercises. Does it help you? Maybe for a few hours you would do the exercises if you really want to get in shape but you won't do it for long.

For the trainer to be effective, he must be willing to sweat it out with his student. Your trainer does the exercises with you and shows you exactly how it is done. 

I would like to ask you, at this point are you a trainer or a teacher?

If there is one sentence that I would like you to always remember it is this:

YOUR WORDS TEACH YOUR CHILDREN BUT YOUR ACTIONS TRAIN THEM.

The Bible however instructs us to train and not just teach. If you want them to value the word of God, show them that you value it by your actions. If you want them to know how to pray, then get on your knees with them and pray together. TRAIN THEM don't just teach.

Could this be the reason several men/women who have walked with God, find their kids not following their footsteps? The parents may have taught the kids but did not spend time to train them, so they departed from the faith.

I will illustrate this with an example from the life of Abraham.

Gen 22:7  And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 

From the scripture above you will notice that Isaac knew what was required to offer a burnt offering to God but who told him that they were going to offer a burnt offering in the first place? 

No where in the verses before this, did it state that Abraham had told him they were going to offer a burnt sacrifice. Abraham only told the servants that they(Isaac and Himself) were going to worship. Also notice, to Isaac it was not out of place to worship with his father. Why? He had been worshiping with his father in the past. He had been trained and he also understood that to worship, you would need a burnt offering. Isaac saw all the instruments required for the burnt offering except one thing. A lamb.

How did he know that a Lamb is required? why that particular animal?

I would like to think that the reason is that once when he and his father had gone to worship together. the father had given him the task to pull the lamb that would be used for the sacrifice along to the place of worship. That, my friend, is training!

Now is there no place for teaching in our training them? Of course, there is!

Going back to our gym illustration again, lets say you had a personal trainer now, who is part of your training process now. He tells you to lift a weight of 50 kg everyday and your muscles are aching from the strain but every single day(and for hours on end it would seem) he tells you to lift that weight.

Suppose, when he notices you are tired or about to rebel, he sits you down and shows you his biceps that you have always admired and told you that it got that way as a result of lifting that very weight daily. How would you respond?

I think I would lift that weight more frequently because I have been taught!

So by all means teach but do not forget to train. Be part of what you are looking to develop in your child.

Lord help us to model an honorable life before our children. To teach and to train them in this godly faith. Amen.

SPIRITUAL PARENTHOOD 3- WANTED! PRAYING FATHERS!

Neh_4:14  And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. 

In the above scripture Nehmiah charged the men to get ready to fight.

How many fathers were actual told  that beyond putting food on the table and providing physically for the family that you are also expected to be a spiritual covering for them.

Many homes have been devastated and opened up to all kinds of spiritual influence because the fathers are out of alignment. They have no idea they carry great spiritual authority and that they wield such great influence.A father who understands his authority can speak into his children's future(Jacob did it in Gen. 49).

However, our spiritual authority as fathers increases as we submit and yield ourselves to God. We must willingly take up our armor and go to battle in the place of prayer for our families and homes. 

Where are the praying fathers, who wake up at night or take time during the day(the hour does not matter) to cover their families in Prayer?Where are the praying fathers who will not only tell their children to pray but lead them in prayer by godly example? 

Every home needs someone that stands strong in the place of prayer, but who would stand up and be counted?

Friend, you are called of God as a father to provide direction for your home but you get your directions and matching orders from HQ. If you don't know how to get the instructions for your family, who do you think should do it?

Many fathers are afraid to take on the battles and spiritual responsibilities and leave this for their children. look at these two scriptures.

Jdg 8:20  And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks. 

1Sa 17:38  And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. 

In the scriptural passages above we see two kinds of men The Gideon kind and the Saul kind.

Lets start with Gideon. Gideon wanted to train his son in battle and wanted him to kill some enemies that had been disarmed. Note that Gideon told his son to slay them but when he could not Gideon dealt with the situation himself.

How does this apply to you? Gideon was the kind of man that knows to train his children. he was training them in battle here. Do you also train your children?Are you involved at all in their instruction? Are they trained in battle? Have you taught them how to call upon God in tight places? Are you a Gideon kind of dad?

The other type is a Saul kind of dad. 

Notice from the scripture above that Saul did not want to face Goliath but was willing to give his armor to a young boy called David. The battle he was too scared to fight in, he committed to the hands of a child. 

Are you a father who cant face spiritual responsibilities? Do you hand your armor over to a David to fight for you.

What kind of Dad are you? A Gideon or a Saul?

SPIRITUAL PARENTHOOD 2- GENERATIONAL(ANCESTRAL) BLESSINGS

 Exo 2:24  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 

Exo 3:6  Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. 

If you have any idea of deliverance or spiritual warfare, you would have been a bit taken aback when you read the topic of this blog. For you, the topic should have been on Generational or ancestral Curses.

For those who may not be aware of what I am talking about, a generational or ancestral curse is a curse that runs from one generation to another. Generational curses are believed to be so strong as to stay in effect long after the individuals that contracted those curses have died.

Recently I thought about this topic and I felt that if my ancestors could enter a covenant with the devil, to the extent that the results of it can be felt in my life today until it is broken by the power of God, then I should have such a strong relationship with God that carries for generations too.

When I read the above scriptures, It opened my eyes to a new reality that I feel I should share.

A lot of us want to leave a home or some inheritance for our kids, and we all should as parents strive to do so but beyond leaving a physical inheritance, I would like you to leave a legacy or a blessing behind. This blessing may not be tangible or in the realm where men can count or touch it but let your walk with God be strong enough to affect generations after you. 

Paul said to Timothy:

2 Tim 1:5  When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also. 

These women had faith and it lasted three generations! The faith that was in Timothy's grand mother was passed to his mother and then to him. Wow! Wont you like that testimony? 

How many of us would really be proud if our children followed God in the same way as we are currently? 

Some parents do not take their walk with God seriously but they expect their kids to.

If you are prayerless, why get angry with your kids when they don't pray? If you do not value your own words and keep your words to your own kids why beat them up for doubting the word of God you share with them? If you don't honor God why expect your kids to be any different?


Friend how I long that years after I am dead and buried,I can leave behind a walk with God that will affect my children and their children as well just as Abraham did.

In fact the blessing that Abraham carried affected more than his descendants.

Gen 12:2-3  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 

Many come to church just to be blessed but Abraham's walk with God made him carry more than just a blessing for himself. 

I don't think Abraham came from a godly of background but He maintained a walk with God that his children benefited from. 

Are you a parent or planing to be? Then ask God to help you that the strength of your walk with God would affect generations after you have gone. 

If the curses of our ancestors are that strong then we who have become believers should be able not only to break free but to leave a godly imprint in the lives of our children. What do you think? Can you be a blessing to your generation?

SPIRITUAL PARENTHOOD- GOD IS INTERESTED IN YOUR HOME

I feel I should write on this topic which has been laid in my heart even though it would seem removed from my usual topics. 

I feel the pain of broken homes and a lot of homes that are on the verge of packing it all up. I feel there is a word to be said to the men and women who God has given these homes.

YES, I said God gave you the home.

Even if you made a mistake when you got married, God in His sovereignty can turn it around for your good.

Do you realize that your home was not just put together by your design? It did not just come about only because you went to some church or wherever and said some words.

Heb 3:4 say “For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.”

You are the instrument for which God set up your home and you need to know that God has an interest in your home.Your family life matters to God and he wants to be a part of the building process.

Please settle this fact in your heart that, God is interested in your home!

Psa 68:6  God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. (KJV)

The rendering of the same scripture from another version is:

Psa 68:6  He gives the lonely a home to live in and leads prisoners out into happy freedom, but rebels will have to live in a desolate land. (GNB)

So many are in their homes and families but they are lonely. They have a husband or wife who is around and children running around yet loneliness eat at them. God put you in that family to banish your loneliness as you can see from the passage above. If you are also lonely believing God for a partner I would like to encourage you with the scripture above and tell you that God can settle you into your own home.

He said of Adam in Gen 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

I wish that this first in a series of write-ups, I will call spiritual parenthood, would convenience you beyond any doubt that no matter how bitter, painful or miserable your family is, the maker of heaven and earth is interested in that home.

As miserable, hopeless or even godless as that family is, God is still interested in building that home. As you read that last sentence you may wonder if I have any idea what kind of home you live in. well the true is, I don’t, but God does and that is all that matters.

I tell you on the strength of his words that your home interests God.

Has your home left you heartbroken? The bible tells me that he can bind up the broken hearted.

 The problem is whether you would let him be part of the building process of your home, The truth is that He created a master plan of that home and He knows just how it should be run. The problem with us is that we are trying to build a house that the master plan is in the hands of another. You cant get it right!

Release that Home to God today and watch him correct the flaws in your 'building'.

John Chapter 11(Part 3)-A RESPONSE DELAYED BUT STILL LOVED

Lets continue our thoughts on John Chapter 11 (I added a subtitle to help me a bit).

John 11:3-6:  Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. 

If you got the news that a loved one was sick, what would be your reaction?

Now if you were like me, you would want to rush off to be at their side if you could, or call frantically to know how they were or at least send someone to know how they were doing. I'm I right?

So When I read that, Jesus was told that Lazarus, a person he Loved, was sick. I expected the same action but His response was different (You would have noticed). He remained two days more AT THE SAME PLACE.Now that's a strange way to react! 

If the Bible had not been clear that Jesus Loved Lazarus, I am sure a lot of people could have doubted his affection for Lazarus. 

Can I bring that thought closer to you?

When you are passing through a difficulty and there is a delay in the response of God to your prayers,  how do you perceive it? Do you still know that God loves you even if his response is delayed or do you doubt his love for you?A delayed response or a non-response can be discomforting to the best of us. Even Jesus asked his Father why he had been forsaken on the cross.A delayed response can cause us to question a lot of things. It could cause us to question our faith, or question the love that God has for us.

Some may have reasoned that the sister had the impression that Jesus loved Lazarus if only verse 3 was the only mention of this love. They would have argued that maybe Lazarus did not mean as much to Jesus as his sisters thought he did.

I am glad that the bible tells us clearly that their impression was right, Jesus did indeed love Lazarus and just so that people don't turn their attentions to knowing whether he had a problem with Martha and Mary instead the bible says, ..Jesus Loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

Not leaving any of them out.

Friend, I can tell you that God Loves you! 

Despite what you are faced with, despite the challenges that may confront you and despite the trails you may be going through. God the creator of the universe loves you.

Whatever happens do not doubt that for a second! Even though the response may be delayed he loves you more than you know.

Let me end this with this scripture, (Please think about it if you doubt the love of God).

John 3:16  For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.(Good news Bible)

To be continued....

EVER FELT LIKE ENDING IT ALL?......THEN YOU'RE IN GOOD COMPANY!(PART 2)

1Ki 19:9-10  There he went into a cave to spend the night. Suddenly the LORD spoke to him, "Elijah, what are you doing here?"  He answered, " LORD God Almighty, I have always served you---you alone. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed all your prophets. I am the only one left---and they are trying to kill me!"

Two emotions that overwhelm a man or woman who is discouraged or depressed is a great sense of isolation and hopelessness.

It is true that when we get into trouble at times, people could leave us( you could read my post LEFT ALONE for more details of this) but I also find that in some cases, people when they get depressed or discouraged tend to avoid the company of people who could help them the most.

When they feel pity for themselves, they would run away from that friend who would get in their face, and tell them to quit their pity party and sometimes seek out the company of those who offer them an easy way out. They avoid the company of any one who would challenge them to come out of the state they find themselves or to confront the situation.

For instance a woman or man who wants to get a divorce, hates the one that tells him to fight for his marriage preferring the company of those that give her or him the support to quit the marriage. Those who confront us with our faults in an argument are easily shoved aside for those who would blindly support our point of view no matter what. Hence, these people give us the fuel we need to keep on in our error and not deal with it. 

If we fail to find such "yeah sayers" we may then turn into our shells and hide off.

You may be reading this and expecting to be pitied but just like God asked Elijah, I would like to know 'What are you doing here?!'

We always want to offer a shoulder to cry on to one who is depressed but sometimes God would want us to think about what we are doing. I ask again "what are you doing here?". Do you have a clear understanding of what you are doing or has your emotions distorted your understanding of the events?

Sometimes our self-pity comes from a wrong perception of the situation. Our emotions could keep us from seeing things clearly but if you have someone who is a bit removed from the events, He/She could point out where you got it wrong.

Some people have such great gifting and have been equipped by God to deal with the situation they are confronted with (just like Elijah was) but they choose to bury their heads in the sand or turn tail and run at the slightest sign of conflict. The challenge looks so much more than it actually is especially when we can no longer look at it through the eyes of faith. 

An example of this is the children of Israel when they were about to enter the promise land for the first time. Here is what they spies said:

Num 13:31-33  "We can't attack those people," the men who were with him said, "because they're too strong compared to us."So they put out this false report to the Israelis about the land that they had explored: "The land that we've explored is one that devours its inhabitants. All the people whom we observed were giants. We also saw the Nephilim, the descendants of Anak. Compared to the Nephilim, as we see things, we're like grasshoppers, and that's their opinion of us!" 

If I was there that day I would have loved to ask them some questions like:

1. How did you determine the strength of an opponent that you have not faced in battle? 
2.  If the Land devours its inhabitants like you say, why are there people still living in it? (we should gladly walk in and let them give us possession of the land then, No battle needed!) and also how come that the ground of this land provides these fruits that you brought back with you but still devours its inhabitants?
3. Why are they giants, if they live so terribly?
4. How were you able to know their opinion of you? Did they tell you or could you read their minds?

For a people whose land devours its inhabitants they sure did well to end up as giants to the extent that we look like grasshoppers before them, don't you think? Maybe we are the ones who aren't living in the best place here!

Anyway lets move on! 

While the option of Isolating ones self may seem a good idea, it could prolong the depression. We need the support and godly advise of people around us in the times of distress.

However, even though the company and support of people could help us in our distress, the greatest need that confronts us is our need for God, simply because, people no matter how loving or caring may be unable to help and sometimes may cause more harm than good (A typical example of this is Job's friends who added to his distress by their counsel and his wife who told him to curse God and die).

Friend, Don't give up yet. God knows what you can take long before you faced down that challenge.

I would like to say to you that if God brought you into it, then He can bring you through it.

I am learning that no matter what happens I can always turn to God. 

He is a very present help in the time of trouble, He gives power to the faint, and to them that have run out of strength, he increases their strength. 

I know prayer can be very tough when we are depressed but we can not afford not to. Turn to Him today, even if he rebukes you, He is also loving enough to rescue you. Your mistakes doesn't have to be the end.

God can turn  this for your good!

A Broken and Contrite Heart God Will Not Despise

Psalms: Thinking and Feeling with God, Part 3

http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/a-broken-and-contrite-heart-god-will-not-despise

June 8, 2008

• by John Piper
 
• Scripture: Psalms 51
 
• Topic: Indwelling Sin
 
• Series: Psalms: Thinking and Feeling with God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O 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! 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 judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter 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 all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O 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 a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Last week we focused on Psalm 42 and how to be discouraged well. And today our focus is on Psalm 51 and how to be crushed with guilt well. I hope that you are detecting a pattern. What makes a person a Christian is not that he doesn’t get discouraged, and it’s not that he doesn’t sin and feel miserable about it. What makes a person a Christian is the connection that he has with Jesus Christ that shapes how he thinks and feels about his discouragement and his sin and guilt.

Crushed with Guilt Well

The Psalms were the main songbook of the early church, and they were designed by God to awaken and express and shape the thoughts and feelings of Jesus’ disciples. We learn from the Psalms how to think about discouragement and guilt, and we learn from the Psalms how to feel in times of discouragement and in times of horrible regret. The Psalms show us how to be discouraged well and how to regret well.

My prayer is that you will form the habit of living in the Psalms so much that the world of your thinking and the world of your feeling will be transformed into full-blooded biblical thinking and biblical feeling.

David’s Downward Spiral of Sin

Psalm 51 is one of the few psalms that are pinpointed as to their historical origin. The heading of the psalm goes like this: “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” What happened with Bathsheba is well known. Here it is in crisp biblical words from 2 Samuel 11:2–5:

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. . . . Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

He tried to cover his sin by bringing her husband Uriah home from battle so Uriah could lie with her and think it was his baby. Uriah was too noble to go in to his wife while his comrades were in battle. So David arranged to have him killed so that he could quickly marry Bathsheba and cover the sin that way.

In one of the most understated sentences of the Bible, 2 Samuel 11 ends with these words: “The thing that David had done displeased the Lord” (2 Samuel 11:27). So God sent the prophet Nathan to David with a parable that entices David to pronounce his own condemnation. Then Nathan says, “You are the man!” and asks, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord?” David breaks and confesses, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Then Nathan says, astonishingly, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die” (2 Samuel 12:7–15).

“The Lord Has Put Away Your Sin”

This is outrageous. Uriah is dead. Bathsheba is raped. The baby will die. And Nathan says, “The Lord has put away your sin.” Just like that? David committed adultery. He ordered murder. He lied. He “despised the word of the Lord.” He “scorned God.” And the Lord “put away [his] sin” (2 Samuel 12:13). What kind of a righteous judge is God? You don’t just pass over rape and murder and lying. Righteous judges don’t do that. I was sharing the gospel with four guys on the street last week, and nothing I said could persuade them that a child molester could be forgiven.

I resonate with their skepticism. And I would be outraged at God’s behavior here—except for one thing. The apostle Paul shared my outrage and explained how God could be both righteous and the one who justifies murderers and rapists and liars and, yes, even child molesters.

God’s Outrageous “Passing Over”

Here is what Paul said in Romans 3:25–26. This is one of the most important sentences in the Bible for understanding how Christ relates to the Psalms—and to the Old Testament in general:

God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins [that’s exactly what 2 Samuel 12:13 says God did—he passed over David’s sin]. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

In other words, the outrage that we feel when God seems to simply pass over David’s sin would be good outrage if God were simply sweeping David’s sin under the rug. He is not. God sees from the time of David down the centuries to the death of his Son, Jesus Christ, who would die in David’s place, so that David’s faith in God’s mercy and God’s future redeeming work unites David with Christ. And in God’s all-knowing mind, David’s sins are counted as Christ’s sins and Christ’s righteousness is counted as his righteousness, and God justly passes over David’s sin. The death of the Son of God is outrageous enough, and the glory of God that it upholds is great enough, that God is vindicated in passing over David’s adultery and murder and lying.

Daily Appropriating Forgiveness

Now that is the objective reality of how David is forgiven for his sin and justified in the presence of God. But what Psalm 51 describes is what David felt andthought as he laid hold on God’s mercy. Some might say that Christians after the death of Jesus do not pray and confess this way. They should not think and feel this way. I don’t think that’s right.

Jesus, once for all, by his life and death, purchased our forgiveness and provided our righteousness. We can add nothing to the purchase or the provision. We share in the forgiveness and the righteousness by faith alone. But in view of the holiness of God and the evil of sin, it is fitting that we appropriate and apply what he bought for us by prayer and confession every day. “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:11–12). Daily request for bread, because he has promised to meet every need; daily prayer appropriation of forgiveness, because it is fully purchased and secured for us by the death of Jesus.

David’s Responses to His Sin

Psalm 51 is the way God’s people think and feel about the horrors of their own sin. This is a psalm about how be crushed for our sin well. I will try to guide you through four of David’s responses to his sin.

1. He Turns to God

First, he turns to his only hope, the mercy and love of God. Verse 1: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” Three times: “Have mercy,” “according to your steadfast love,” and “according to your abundant mercy.” This is what God had promised in Exodus 34:6–7: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.”

David knew that there were guilty who would not be forgiven. And there were guilty who by some mysterious work of redemption would not be counted as guilty, but would be forgiven. Psalm 51 is his way of laying hold on that mystery of mercy.

We know more of the mystery of this redemption than David did. We know Christ. But we lay hold of the mercy in the same way he did. The first thing he does is turn helpless to the mercy and love of God. Today that means turning helpless to Christ.

2. He Prays for Cleansing
Second, he prays for cleansing from his sin. Verse 2: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” Verse 7: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Hyssop was the branch used by the priests to sprinkle blood on a house that had a disease in it to declare it clean (Leviticus 14:51). David is crying out to God as his ultimate priest that he would forgive him and count him clean from his sin.

It is fitting that Christians ask God to do this (1 John 1:7–9). Christ has purchased our forgiveness. He has paid the full price for it. That does not replace our asking. It is the basis for our asking. It is the reason we are confident that the answer will be yes. So first David looks helplessly to the mercy of God. And second he prays that, in this mercy, God would forgive him and make him clean.

3. He Confesses the Seriousness of His Sin

Third, David confesses at least five ways that his sin is extremely serious.

3.1. He says that he can’t get the sin out of his mind. It is blazoned on his conscience. Verse 3: “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” Ever before him. The tape keeps playing. And he can’t stop it.

3.2. He says that the exceeding sinfulness of his sin is that it is only against God. Nathan had said David despised God and scorned his word. So David says in verse 4: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” This doesn’t mean Bathsheba and Uriah and the baby weren’t hurt. It means that what makes sin to be sin is that it is against God. Hurting man is bad. It is horribly bad. But that’s not the horror of sin. Sin is an attack on God—a belittling of God. David admits this in striking terms: “Against you, you only, have I sinned.”

3.3. David vindicates God, not himself. There is no self-justification. No defense. No escape. Verse 4: “. . . so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” God is justified. God is blameless. If God casts David into hell, God will be innocent. This is radical God-centered repentance. This is the way saved people think and feel. God would be just to damn me. And that I am still breathing is sheer mercy. And that I am forgiven is sheer blood-bought mercy. David vindicates the righteousness of God, not himself.

3.4. David intensifies his guilt by drawing attention to his inborn corruption. Verse 5: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Some people use their inborn or inbred corruption to diminish their personal guilt. David does the opposite. For him the fact that he committed adultery and murdered and lied are expressions of something worse: He is by nature that way. If God does not rescue him, he will do more and more evil.

3.5. David admits that he sinned not just against external law but against God’s merciful light in his heart. Verse 6: “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” God had been his teacher. God had made him wise. David had done so many wise things. And then sin got the upper hand. And, for David, this made it all the worse. “I have been blessed with so much knowledge and so much wisdom. O how deep must be my depravity that it could sin against so much light.”

So in those five ways at least David joins the prophet Nathan and God in condemning his sin and confessing the depths of his corruption.

4. He Pleads for Renewal

Finally, after turning helpless to God’s mercy, and then praying for forgiveness and cleansing, and then confessing the depth and greatness of his sin and corruption, David pleads for more than forgiveness. He pleads for renewal. He is passionately committed to being changed by God.

He pours out his heart for this change in at least six ways. I can only draw your attention to them. The main point is: Forgiven people are committed to being changed by God. The adulterer, the murderer, the liar, the child molester hate what they were and set their faces like flint to be changed by God.

4.1. He prays that God would confirm to him his election. Verse 11: “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.” I know some say that Christians who are elect and secure in the sovereign grace of God should not pray like that because it implies you can lose your salvation. I don’t think so.

When David or I pray, “Don’t cast me away, and don’t take your Spirit from me,” we mean: Don’t treat me as one who is not chosen. Don’t let me prove to be like one of those in Hebrews 6 who have only tasted the Holy Spirit. Don’t let me fall away and show that I was only drawn by the Spirit and not held by the Spirit. Confirm to me, O God, that I am your child and will never fall away.

4.2. He prays for a heart and a spirit that are new and right and firm. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalms 51:10). The “right spirit” here is the established, firm, unwavering spirit. He wants to be done with the kind of instability that he has just experienced.

4.3. He prays for the joy of God’s salvation and for a spirit that is joyfully willing to follow God’s word and be generous with people rather than exploiting people. Verse 8: “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.” Verse 12: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

Is it not astonishing that nowhere in this Psalm does he pray directly about sex? It all started with sex, leading to deceit, leading to murder. Or did it? I don’t think so. Sigmund Freud may think that all our hang-ups start with sex. But David (speaking for God) does not see things that way.

Sexual Sin: Symptom, Not Disease

Why isn’t he crying out for sexual restraint? Why isn’t he praying for men to hold him accountable? Why isn’t he praying for protected eyes and sex-free thoughts? The reason is that he knows that sexual sin is a symptom, not the disease. People give way to sexual sin because they don’t have the fullness of joy and gladness in Christ. Their spirits are not steadfast and firm and established. They waver. They are enticed, and they give way because God does not have the place in our feelings and thoughts that he should.

David knew this about himself. It’s true about us too. David is showing us, by the way he prays, what the real need is for those who sin sexually. Not a word in this psalm about sex. Instead: “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. . . . Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing, firm, established spirit.” This is profound wisdom for us.

4.4. He asked God to bring his joy to the overflow of praise. Verse 15: “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” Praise is what joy in God does when obstacles are taken out of the way. That is what he is praying for: O God, overcome everything in my life that keeps my heart dull and my mouth shut when they ought to be praising. Make my joy irrepressible.

4.5. He asks that the upshot of all this will be a life of effective evangelism. Verse 13: “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” David is not content to be forgiven. He is not content to be clean. He is not content to be elect. He is not content to have a right spirit. He is not content to be joyful in God by himself. He will not be content until his broken life serves the healing of others. “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.”

4.6. Which brings us to the last point. Under all this, David has discovered that God has crushed him (v. 8) in love, and that a broken and contrite heart is the mark of all God’s children. Verse 17: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Brokenhearted Joy

This is foundational to everything. Being a Christian means being broken and contrite. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you get beyond this in this life. It marks the life of God’s happy children till they die. We are broken and contrite all the way home—unless sin gets the proud upper hand. Being broken and contrite is not against joy and praise and witness. It’s the flavor of Christian joy and praise and witness. I close with the words of Jonathan Edwards who said it better than I can.

All gracious affections [feelings, emotions] that are a sweet [aroma] to Christ . . . are brokenhearted affections. A truly Christian love, either to God or men, is a humble brokenhearted love. The desires of the saints, however earnest, are humble desires: their hope is a humble hope; and their joy, even when it is unspeakable, and full of glory, is a humble brokenhearted joy. . . . (Religious Affections [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959], pp. 339f.)

Amen.