Well, I invite you to turn in your Bibles tonight to Psalm 51, Psalm 51, wonderful Psalm that we'll be considering tonight, and we're moving into the section now we did last time on good works and the life of thankfulness as a Christian and what a life of gratitude looks like, what is the Lord's will for us, that important question that people ask, and tonight we're in Lord's Day 33. There are four question and answers. That's on page 238 in those little forms and prayers book that are in front of you, page 238, and then we'll read Psalm 51. And I'll ask these questions, short question and answers, and have you please respond. Again, in this little book, page 238 tonight, that's in front of you. And we're looking at Lord's Day 33, and then we'll read psalm 51 so the first question there on page 238 question 88 is what is involved in genuine repentance or conversion two things the dying away of the old self and the rising to life of the new what is the dying away of the old self to be genuinely sorry for sin and more and more to hate and run away from it? What is the rising to life of the new self? Wholehearted joy in God through Christ, and a love and delight to live according to the will of God by doing every kind of good work. But what are good works? Only those which are done out of true faith, conformed to God's law are done for his glory and not those based on our own opinion or human tradition. Psalm 51 tonight. To the choir master, a psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba, have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly for 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 blood guiltiness, 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. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. We are continuing tonight our study and reflection on what the Christian life is to look like and how we are particularly to be thankful to God for his salvation, to be thankful to God for his deliverance that he's given to us. Remember right from the beginning of our study, what three things must you know to live and die in the joy of discomfort? And there's that third aspect of what we must know. How do we live thankfully before the Lord? How do we do what pleases him in thankfulness for his great salvation? And we come to the particular question, if you're ever going to talk about thankfulness, if you're going to talk about thankfulness, and how to live thankfully before the Lord. There are many things we're going to talk about. We're going to get to the section on prayer. Prayer is one of the chief ways that we demonstrate that we're thankful to the Lord. But one of the crucial things that is absolutely fundamental to the Christian life, something that the Lord desires of us as his people, is to live a life of repentance. A life of repentance. And tonight we have a particular section in our confession, a catechism, that helps us with that, don't we? It's a really good section that's so clear and short and brief to help us understand what repentance is. And you'll notice there so clearly it's the dying away from the old self and the rising to life in the new self. And so we're sort of exploring, what does that look like in the life of the believer? And what does the Lord desire from us? And I racked my brain to think, what passage would be appropriate to look at to help you with this? Last time we looked at Zacchaeus to give you a story, but I never can really get away from Psalm 51. It's one of those psalms that, for me, constantly in the Christian life, I run back to all the time. One of the most refreshing psalms to hear of how David interacted with the Lord after a great sin in his life. After a sin that was so besetting and so bad and so hurtful, how did he handle that? What did the Lord do for him? What did genuine repentance look like? For if God could forgive and God could help and God could love David after being an adulterer and a murderer, he can help you too. He can help you too. So that's what tonight I thought we would frame a look at what repentance looks like through the lens of the life of David. And it has all the more meaning to exactly illustrate what questions 89 through 90 are showing us here tonight. How do we kill the old self, and what does the rising of the new self look like? And I don't think there's anything better than Psalm 51. Repentance is something to say up front. Repentance is a gift of the Lord. It's not something we work up on our own. It's not something that we achieve on our own. It is a grace of the Lord that he gives us, and as the renewing power of the Spirit, it's something that we desire to pursue in life. It's something that becomes the drive of our life and something that we want to do. To appreciate this, tonight we come to this great story of David. You'll notice that when it was written, it was written when Nathan the prophet went to David after he had gone into Bathsheba. It's always worth rehearsing the account just for a minute. It's such a powerful account, the way that the Holy Spirit inspired it. 2 Samuel chapter 11, spring of the year time, kings had gone out to war. David sends his war general off, Joab, his servants with him. They're ravaging the Amorites and besieging Rabbah. And David is all alone at Jerusalem. And it happened one late afternoon that David arose from his couch. You really get the sense of just a time where he's completely caught off guard. And walking out on the king's roof's house, must have been a glorious roof. that he saw a woman bathing. The woman was really beautiful. Beautiful to behold, says in the scripture. And David inquired about the woman. And one said, is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And in a brief sweep of the way that the Holy Spirit inspired the account, So David sent messengers and took her. He was a thief, too. He took her. And she came to him. And he lay with her. Right there, we have major sins that have just been committed. He has committed adultery. And he has stolen another man's wife. The scene is painfully transparent. The nation is off at war. gazes with his eyes upon another man's wife, and by the time it's done, he has committed adultery, and she is pregnant. I mean, talk about a royal mess he's created. The scene is presented as a downward spiral into sin. It really is presented as this sort of shocking moment into this righteous man's life. A man who was after God's own heart. A man who loved the Lord. A man who served him as his chosen king. Lust had overcome him. In our terms, pornography overcome him. And he took this man's wife, laid with her, and it's not over. To make matters much worse, he then sends her husband back after war, finding out who he is, with the hopes that, as I read it, he would lay with his wife and cover up whose child this is. But this was a righteous man. He wouldn't do that. This man being so noble, how could I go and lay around and enjoy my wife while the nation's at war? That Uriah was a righteous man. David was not. What a moment. And a last ditch effort to clean up his sin, a last ditch effort to cover up his sin, he sends Uriah out in the front line. A man who loved the nation. A man who was a good man on all accounts. And he puts that man right on the front line knowing he's going to take the arrow and die. And die he did. He murdered him under his authority. Talk about abuse. Talk about an abusive leader. The most painful part of the story is at the end of 2 Samuel 11, we read, this thing that David did displeased the Lord. That's the dagger here. It really displeased the Lord. Now, when you're preaching a passage like this, you have to think about the great intention and to say, first off, look at how deceptive sin is. Look at how deceptive and powerful sin is. This is what we don't realize as Christians. This is what we don't realize as God's righteous people. Sin is incredibly powerful. sin is incredibly deceptive. Calvin notes something interesting in this psalm. He said David was probably praying every day. David was probably in public worship on the Sabbath. He probably thought he was conforming himself to God's law. That's the deceptiveness of sin. That's what Hebrews is talking about. But encourage one another daily, as long as it's called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. That's the deceptiveness. And I think this is the sort of warning in Scripture. This is why David all over the Psalms is saying, think of the end of Psalm 139. Show me what offensive way is within me and lead me out of it because I don't see it. It's part of his prayer life. It's part of his prayer life. So you think of the deceitfulness of sin. How could you not see? How could you justify this? How could you stand back from this and say, it's all good. God's got me. This is the sort of weight of the text when you're thinking about it to how blinded he was, at least for a year. For in that time, a baby was born. So this went on for a while. This went on for a while. And this is something that I think the text is pressing us about, where to begin to think about why is repentance so necessary? Why is repentance so important? And I think it's good to remember about true repentance is that not only, sometimes I think we think that repentance is something that happens when we begin the Christian life. It's something that we initially do. We initially, when we have a conversion, because that's part of what we're talking about here, well, it's conversion, a converting of somebody's life. We have these conversion stories, and somebody turns away from something really great in their life, and we're enamored by that story. But we sort of leave it there and think, that was great. We've bypassed that. We're done with that. We're in. Christianity is a daily repentance. It's a daily conversion and thankfulness to the Lord. It's a daily putting to death the old and putting on the new. I think we forget that about repentance. I think this story helps us in that regard to think about the importance of having that contrite heart, that contrite spirit for the Lord's help daily so that we don't fall into the deceitfulness of sin and the hardness of sin. See what it can do to King David. It can happen to us. And that's probably what frames a little bit of why Paul says, do you think you stand? Take heed, lest you fall. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter how old you are. It doesn't matter how young, strong. Sin is that powerful. Sin is that powerful. Well, this comes to the question then of how did the Lord show mercy to David? How did the Lord help David? And what does God do to bring about true repentance? and that's what is here. God could come and crush us. God could come and heavily chastise us. In fact, Hebrews says that's always an option in terms of chastisement, fatherly chastisement, which none of us really wants to go through, is when you harden yourself in the deceitfulness of sin, if you're a true son, he's going to come get you at some point, isn't he? And we don't know what that chastisement will look at. David faced some of that here with his son, didn't he? But I want you to notice here that first off, the way that God works repentance in us is first to bring us his word. God comes in a caring, kind, wooing way to us. That's why his worship is so important. I don't know if we stop, and I always feel like I assume things as a pastor, that everyone gets the order of worship, and that's something that you all understand. But do you realize that every Sunday, something very special happens? God, there's been a conviction all the way back from the Old Testament when there were times of renewal amongst God's people after great long periods of hardened sin that there would be a wood pulpit set up and the law would be read. Do you know why? To draw out repentance out of the people. Confession. And as soon as those broken and contrite hearts cried out to the Lord in sincerity every time he announced forgiveness. You know, that's what happens here on Sunday. Well, it's important to read God's law. It's important to have a time of confession. And then the announcement comes, doesn't it? You're forgiven. You who have trusted in Jesus, turned from your sins, confessed your sins, repented. He has washed you. He's cleansed you. That is huge for our worship. That is why we call this renewal in worship. That's why you go out into your weeks renewed in the promises. God loved David, and God did this. So when you read this story of Nathan, and you think there was a tough pastor coming down on them that day, coming down on him. When you feel guilty over something I said, and you think I directly preached at you, I did. God spoke to you. God convicted your consciences. God worked. Imagine how David felt that day. Let me tell you a little parable, David. There was this great man. And he had a great kingdom. And there was this one little man. And he had a little ewe lamb. And that great king, in his great kingdom, who had everything and would have been given everything more, he came and he took that man's little ewe lamb. You believe he did this thing? Oh, I can't believe somebody would do it. He's done. You're the man. You're the man. See, God sent a preacher. God sent a preacher, and God first, to draw David back, had that word brought to him. And that's how he first desires to work repentance in us. Do you know that? He's such a gracious father. He comes to you, sending you preacher after preacher after preacher, who's meant to exposit the word, and to work, and to bring that word to bear to you. And through that word, he speaks to you. And what is he doing to you? He's holding you. He's keeping you. And he's drawing out your sins. You're the person. You're the adulterer. You're the adulteress. I know what you're doing. I see what you're looking at. I see what you're taking. I see everything that you're doing in behind your walls. This is what we're doing on Sundays. This is part of the ministry of the gospel of comfort. Well, now you have Psalm 51. And Psalm 51 shows you what a repentant life looks like. I believe you come to Psalm 51 and the story's interjected right here. When Nathan said, you're the man, and remember what David said? I've sinned. I've sinned against the Lord. And you see this immediate change in the whole countenance of, you can read it on the page of Scripture, the whole countenance of David changes. And that's where we are. This is the kind of godly grief that produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, Paul talks about, whereas worldly grief produces death. And I think it's always interesting to say in this great comparison of true repentance, we saw Saul. Saul didn't repent. Saul was sorrowful because he got caught. And that's another big danger. It's you get caught and you suffer the consequences. That's not the kind of sorrow God's after. This is what he's after that brings true godly repentance. And you want to know it. And if you struggle with it, that's why Psalm 51 is so important for you. I think it was Augustine, I think it was Augustine who either read Psalm 32 or 51 every day. And they're the same context. Now keep in mind, initial conversion, daily conversion, listen to David, have mercy on me, O God. According to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. That's a cry from the depths of his heart. The light has gone on. And I think what's important in the catechism tonight, particularly, is something that's said that we don't often think about as to precisely the way the catechism frames it, is what exactly is the dying away of the old self? Think about the old self. What does that look like? And notice how it frames it in the way of the dying away of the old self. To be genuinely sorry for sin, and more and more to hate it, and run away from it. That's how you die away to your old self. Did you hear it? Genuine sorrow. And to hate your sin, and to run away the other way from it. You know, that's a particular work of grace in your life, because by nature we love sin. That's why we do it. You're asking God in repentance to fight the old self by asking God, now listen, so important, to give you a holy hatred for the things you used to do and live in. That's the dying away of the old self. God, give me the grace to hate my sin because I'm still doing it because I love it. You see? Have mercy on me. The worst feeling and the most empty recognition had come upon him that David understood in the sorrow. Notice genuine sorrow here is this. It's right here. It's this overwhelming sense of recognition as to what I've done. I've used this illustration before, but they used to have that television show where they would capture predators in their sins. And then all of a sudden, the weight of what they did, just this is earthly sorrow, all the consequences of the earthly sorrow hit them, and the weight was like, what have I done? What's different with this kind of repentance is, is that first and foremost, what's David concerned with. Against you and you only have I sinned. The burden was I sinned against you, the God that I love. And I can't undo what I've done. The law made really no provision for this guy at this point. He was toast. It was a mess. He had really wrecked and sinned. You know, by the way, sin is incredibly selfish. It hurts a lot of people. Notice how many people got hurt in this narrative? One's dead. Sin brings a terrible sense of defilement, discouragement, pain, and all the consequences are before you. And then all the godly sorrow of it follows, this overwhelming pain of your position and this thought that you all know, I'm the greatest hypocrite ever to exist. That's what sin brings. It does no good for you. And you know what's beginning to happen? When God brings his word to you and you're convicted and then you realize against you and you only have I sinned, godly sorrow is starting to happen. And that's part of what it means to put to death and die away to the old self. For I know my transgression and my sin is before you. Against you and you only have I sinned and done what's evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. The way you know you've reached genuine sorrow is to say, what does everyone say in the face of sin who's not repentant? Don't judge me. What do you mean? I'm not doing anything wrong. Who are you to judge me? That's somebody not repentant when they've sinned. In fact, that's what 1 John's talking about when it says those who say they have no sin, they're arguing. David says here, I've so sinned. If you were to enter into judgment with me and you decided to put me under judgment and cast me into eternal judgment, you're right to do so. I have no more argument, no more plea in myself. That's what he's describing here. And this is what the Lord's after from us. This kind of honesty about our sins and our struggles. A deep sense of awareness of sin. And I think this is exactly what the Lord is calling us to. in the Christian life, to get on our knees and say, Lord, today here's what I did and I shouldn't have done. I did something today I shouldn't have done, and I'm going to tell you specifically about it, and I'm going to agree with you that your law is good and that I shouldn't have done it, and against you I've sinned. Today, David would have said, I lusted, I committed adultery, I murdered. I stole. And I've experienced all the misery and sorrow that I deserve for that. Forgive me. What does 1 John tell us? You confess your sins. What's he faithful to do? Confess your sins. He's faithful and just to forgive them, to let them go, and do something else. And cleanse you. cleanse you from all unrighteousness because sin has a polluting effect on the heart and life. Well, that's the second thing tonight. What is the rising to life of the new self? Notice the happy answer to this. Wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a love and delight to live according to the will of God by doing every kind of good work. That's a specific separation there from killing the old man is hating sin, being sorrow for sin, and running away from sin. But here's the rising to the new life. Notice the first thing that's said. Joy. Joy. What does David say in verse 7? Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear what? Joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins. Blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. You see, he's asking God to do something specific for him. He needs cleansing from the sin and that's what the Lord does. and then what does he do? He's asking for wholehearted joy in Christ. And this is the amazing truth of the Scripture, beloved. This is why I emphasize the assurance of pardon in worship. David's crying for mercy here. And his only ground of appeal is that God is a God of mercy and that God has made a promise. Notice how David says it, that he's loving, kind, in the tender multitude of his mercies. Purge me because you're like that. And I promised that you would do that for me. Let the bones that you've broken rejoice. The rising to life of the new self, listen, I think this is so important too, crucial to repentance, is to know when you've come to God with a broken and contrite heart, in godly sorrow, in the dying away of the old self, to have an absolute knowledge and understanding and trust that God has forgiven your sins. That inspires walking in the newness of life. That's what David's recognizing here. The joy arises out of the gospel. The joy arises that there's a savior for him. The joy arises that God has a righteous king that he would provide for him. The joy arises because his sins would be forgiven in Golgotha. This is wholehearted joy that God cares for us and loves us. And you notice that he uses the word hyssop here. That he would actually paint a brush. That was what they used at Passover. Just that they sprinkled the hyssop blood on the door frames that the angel of death would pass over. That it would be like God. A belief and trust that God would take his giant hyssop brush and cover him with the blood of Jesus. And he would live in the joy of that. Make me hear that message. You have to ask God for that. Not only that he'd come and convict you for your sins and you'd turn to him, but that you'd hear the forgiveness that he's announcing. Make me hear joy and gladness. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. You know the Lord desires to do that for you. If you could do that with David, he'll do that for you. And I want to close with this thought. Notice that wholehearted joy and a love and delight to live according to the will of God by doing every kind of good work. What are good works? It's outlined right there for you. That of true faith, conformed to God's law, done for his glory, not on our own human tradition or opinion. Notice finally, the rising to new self, there's a change of direction and a love for what's true, righteous, good, pure. What does that look like? Read David. He says it here. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, then what will happen? Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Oh, hypocrite. How can you tell anyone to go live a certain way when you did those things? Because you've been delivered. Don't let anyone put that line on you. Parents, you might have done something bad and your child uses that against you. Don't let them put that line on you. Show them deliverance. Then I'll teach transgressors. I'll teach the sinners and I'll help them. And they'll return to you. Because I have returned to you. See, he's capturing what repentance looks like and what begins to happen in a repentant individual. Stop thinking about yourself and you start thinking about all the others who are stuck in this. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God. O God of my salvation. And what will happen to my tongue? It's going to be loosened. I'm going to sing aloud of your righteousness. Oh Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise. I have a lot of people to talk to about Jesus now. For you will not delight in sacrifice or I give it. You will not be pleased with burnt offering. I might fit in there. You will not be pleased with works done out of our own opinions or human tradition. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. These, O God, you will not despise. See, those come out of an overflow in heart that's been forgiven. And that's why it's so important to be repentant in life. You ever met people who've come out of great sins in their life? They've done a lot of bad things, and they know what they've been delivered from. You ever see the sort of humble, broken humility in such a person? Because they know what they've done. And what is so sweet in that person, what is so beautiful in that person is a humble humility and a desire for everyone else to have the forgiveness they've had. I think that's what inspires good works, inspires us to live a certain way. He ends this prayer by making a solemn promise that if God would do this for him, he promises he would go forward in a thankful life. Make a solemn promise here. You do this for me and I will do that. That's what my life will be in thankfulness to you. I'll tell others of the wonderful things you've done for me. Put on the new self, says Ephesians, created in the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. So, you know, to close tonight, Look at all the misery sin brought David. And we flirt with it. We toy with it. We entertain it. And Rosaria Butterfield, when she was speaking over there, she said, sin is like that little lion cub. It's cute. And you hold that little lion cub, and you pet that little lion cub, one day that thing grows into a lion, and it devours you. That's what sin's like. And it wrecked his life. And coming to the Lord for mercy and forgiveness, the Lord restored him. The Lord cleansed him. The Lord grant him repentance and gave him a life of true joy. So who wouldn't want that kind of life? That's what the gospel brings. And that's what the Lord calls us to. Godly repentance that leads to salvation without regret. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word tonight that encourages us in this pursuit. This is your will for us, our sanctification. And we confess, O Lord, that we have taken sin too lightly. We have played with it. We've toyed with it. We've hardened ourselves in it. And little have we repented and dropped the knee, making excuses for the things that we do. often bringing on ourselves the sad consequences of the sins that we chose. And then you come every week in your wonderful word and you draw us back with a tender voice, convicting us by your law, bringing your children back to draw out godly sorrow and true repentance that leads to deliverance and salvation. Thank you for caring for us and loving us this way. Give us a desire for this. Be patient with us. For if you exposed all of our sins here tonight, we would be in the same boat as David. Thank you for covering our shame by the blood of Jesus. And thank you for giving us a new life in him. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.