Psalm 51 - Sins That Sacrifices Can’t Atone For

Well, hello and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. I am repping my Gateway Seminary shirt today, because as of the time that I'm recording this, this is my first week of classes at Gateway Seminary, and that is online.

And I'm looking forward to continuing to grow in my knowledge of God and His Word, and how I can share Christ with others.

This initial class that I'm taking is evangelism and ethics, and how we share the gospel with other people, viewing apologetics as both defense, that when people say, hey, what about this? Doesn't this prove that God's not real?

We use apologetics to defend the faith, to be able to say, no, here's what we think about this, or here's how that doesn't jive correctly, that God's word is true and this objection is false.

Apologetics is also offense, to be able to say, hey, like our world doesn't make sense, morals right and wrong doesn't make sense without the Lord.

And it's also just a general kind of declaration of our faith, to be able to say, here's what God's word says, here's as we look at history, as we look at science, here are all the ways in which God's word has been proven true time and time and time

again. And so we can trust it when it tells us the most important things in life, which is about Jesus and about salvation. So looking forward to that would greatly appreciate your prayers. And we are in Psalm 51 today.

And this Psalm is a Psalm of David. I'm going to read the inscription here. This is one of the most well-known scriptures, maybe for people that have been around the Bible for a long time.

If you know any Psalms, it's very likely that you know Psalm 23, which we went over a very long time ago, and you probably know Psalm 51.

And I'm going to read the inscription first, going to give the story, and then going to jump into the Psalm itself, the little inscription on the Psalm, which is here part of inspired scripture that God gave us.

It references the story, and so I feel like there's a justifiable thing of, okay, we need to understand what's happening here.

So the inscription says this, for the choir director, a Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba.

So, David, you may recall from, if you've been around the Bible for a while, the story of David and Goliath, that David was just a kind of young kid, young teen.

At the time when he killed Goliath with a sling and a stone, he would have been somewhere between the ages of like 14 and 17, by most people's guesses, and he became a part of the Kingdom of Israel's army under Saul. He was a great leader.

God gave him great favor. People made songs about him singing, you know, Saul is slain his thousands, but David, his tens of thousands, and they just really, really loved David. And David was faithful to just serve and to do whatever his king asked.

But Saul became insanely jealous of David. And he thought that David would definitely try and take the kingdom by force. And so he tried to kill David on so many occasions.

David ended up having to go out on the land, and he ran, and it didn't even matter that David was actually Saul's son-in-law, that David had married his daughter.

Saul had said, You can marry my daughter if you can bring me 104 skins from the Philistines. That is just like verifiable proof that David had killed 100 Philistines in battle.

And obviously, this would be a very, very dangerous task to try and undergo, especially as a young man. And David brought back 200, and he went so far above what Saul had asked. And that was really who David was.

That's how he went about his life. He went to the absolute max. And that was true in his relationship with the Lord.

He wrote many of these Psalms that we've been going through, especially in Book 1, and I think some more as we enter into the second half or so of Book 2 of Psalms. So David's all in. And he had his bride.

Saul ended up marrying off that, his own daughter that had been married to David and married her off to a foreign king.

And David, through several years of wandering, running from Saul, trying to stay alive, he eventually, Saul was killed in battle with the Philistines. And David was then able to finally return to his kind of tribe nation, if you will, of Judah.

And he was going to become king over Israel, but one of Saul's generals kind of set up as a puppet king, one of Saul's sons, Ishbosheth.

And there was a six or seven year civil war, where he, where the general tried to kill David, make sure that he wasn't going to reign.

He took advantage of the puppet king and, you know, took some of his, took his wife for himself and all sorts of wickedness that was happening.

But eventually that general was killed by one of David's men, and David was able to finally become king over all Israel.

And as we read that taking place in the Book of Second Samuel, it finally looks like there's going to be some good in David's life.

And so David brings in the Ark of the Covenant, that God's like the most physical reminder that they had of God's presence, other than the Tabernacle itself, which would later kind of be adjusted to be the temple.

The Ark of the Covenant, it was now in Jerusalem, the capital. And so it looks like everything's going to go really well. David has a foreign king that he was friends with, and that foreign king had died.

And so David sent over to the son of that king, he sent some messengers just to say like, hey, I'm so sorry, I was friends with your dad, and we're mourning the loss with you.

And that new king thought that David had sent these messengers to spy out the land, to figure out how he could conquer them.

And so he dishonored them, he basically like cut off the back of, you know, their tunics or whatever, so that their rears were exposed and sent them back to Israel.

And so then there was a war that had ensued as a result of some pride, but God had kept David alive and had given him blessing after blessing after blessing in his life. And then we reach 2 Samuel chapter 11.

And here, all of, it was like the time of year that if people were going to have warfare, it was the time of year that was best for it, the best climate for it, where if you were going to die, it was going to be as a result of the warfare and not

through like inclement weather or something like that. So, it's the time of year where kings go to war. David does not go out to war and instead he stays in Jerusalem. I'm waving to Pastor Ron real quick.

I'm recording real quick, but afterwards I'm going to meet up with him for lunch. So, all right, sounds good. Thank you.

So, David is not where he's supposed to be. And instead, he's staying in Jerusalem.

Now, by this point, something that God had not commanded him to do, not wanted him to do, was that David had at least eight or so wives and several concubines, which were basically something like sex slaves back in those days.

It was someone that they didn't have the status of a wife, but you would basically use them as such. It was a very barbaric thing that took place.

Every time you see it mentioned in the Old Testament, it's never a good thing of like, hey, you should do this. This is what godly people do. This was a bad thing.

This was a wicked thing that David was participating in because it was just very accepted in his culture. And so he did it. God said, don't commit adultery.

And if you pursue someone that's not your wife, that is adultery. And David had done that seven times with his eight wives. Now, David, he's on the roof of his palace and it was much more common.

You had like flat roofs that people would, you know, sit on, stand on, eat on that kind of stuff.

Back in those days, it's not like today where we've got the slanted roofs to kind of make sure that, you know, water or snow or whatever doesn't cave in the roof. That's not what they did back then. So David's on his roof.

And he's looking out over all of the city of Jerusalem, and he notices that there is a woman that's bathing and she's doing the ritual purification that she's supposed to do, that we learned about in the Book of Leviticus.

I think I may have even mentioned it when we went through Leviticus. So she had just gotten done with her time of the month. She has now cleansed herself.

She's following the Word of God. I've heard some people with a very like 21st century outlook on this be like, oh, well, why was he able to see her? Why wasn't she like in her house bathing?

And that's not how it worked during those times.

Because David's house was up much further in elevation and very tall in height in Jerusalem, all of the regular things that you would have with your like walls that would enclose your courtyards or different things that would like separate your house

from your neighbor's house, all that kind of stuff, he could oversee all of those. And so he looks at this woman and he notices, man, she's very beautiful. She's great to look at.

And instead of being, you know, certainly there have all, pardon me, there have been times in all of our lives where we notice someone that's attractive. And that is not sin.

What is sin is when we notice someone's attractive and we go, I want that person. Man, I wish that I had that person. And this is what David does.

And in fact, not only does he like commit this adultery, this lust in his heart, but then he sends messengers to go, hey, like go find out who that girl is and I want her. It's not that David had any like lack of intimacy or anything like that.

I already mentioned he had at least 10 different women in his harem that he could have had. And I think there were probably a few more concubines than that, even from some other things in scripture. And so David, he goes to like pursue this person.

And one of his servants says like, hey, isn't this the wife of Uriah, the Hethite, which was one of David's like 30 top generals, best soldiers, one of the guys that was with him all those years of running from Saul in the wilderness, you know,

protecting him, keeping him safe. He says, this is the wife of one of your top 30 guys. And also, you know, your like council, the guy that gives you good advice, Ahithophel, this is his granddaughter. And yet David, he's not dissuaded by that.

He still keeps on going. He's like, you know, I'm the king, and it doesn't matter if she has a husband, and it doesn't matter if I know him, doesn't matter if he loves me, doesn't matter if he's out in the war right now, fighting where I should be.

He says, it doesn't matter. I'm going to do what I want to do. So he sends for Bathsheba, is the name of the woman.

And the Bible says that they took her. The phrase is other where is in other places in the Old Testament used to speak about like capturing someone in warfare. This was not a like consensual relationship thing.

This was even as Nathan, the prophet of God that's going to confront David, he likens it to a person stealing his neighbor's sheep and killing it. That's how God talks about this.

So, I've seen one thing online sometimes that says, oh, David defeated Goliath but lost to Bathsheba. And so you need to be more scared about the sins that you haven't killed yet.

And frankly, it's just not a realization of how God talks in his word about what happens. This was not some evil, temptress, seductress that really just took out a man of God.

This was a man that, despite his love for the Lord, was deeply flawed and sinful. And he commits egregious terrible action after terrible action throughout 2 Samuel 11 and 12. So he takes Bathsheba, he impregnates her, and he sends her home.

He just uses and abuses and is done. Well, then Bathsheba sends a messenger to tell David, hey, I am with child.

David gets scared because he doesn't want there to be the knowledge of his sin outside of everyone in his palace that had seen and heard what had happened and whatever servant that Bathsheba had sent, he doesn't want it to spread out any further.

So he calls back Uriah the Hethite from the battlefield. And he tries to get him to go home to Bathsheba to kind of cover up his sin.

And there's a book, Misreading Scripture Through Western Eyes, that would lend us credence to the fact that Uriah, pardon me, Uriah knew what was going on.

He knew what had been done because that was the only possible reason why David would want this action to take place, why he would call Uriah back from the battlefield. And so Uriah refused.

He was basically like, no one is going to be oblivious to what you've done. Your sin is going to find you out. And so that's what he does.

Even though David tries to get him drunk, Uriah still ends up just sleeping in the servants quarters. He is not going to give David the benefit of saying, okay, you defiled my family and your sin is now going to catch up to you.

So David sends Uriah back. He sends him back with a sealed letter to go to Joab, the general of the army of Israel.

And in the letter, it said, hey, send Uriah into the hottest part of the battle, then pull all the troops back from him so that he dies.

That happens, Uriah dies, Bathsheba goes into mourning, and then David has the audacity to bring her into his house as part of his harem. And scripture at the end of 2nd Samuel 11 says, but what David had done greatly displeased the Lord.

We cannot sin and it not displeased the Lord.

When we rebel against Him, when we spit in His face, when we say what you have designated for my marriage, for my holiness, for my love for other people, when I refuse that that you've given me, it will obviously grieve the Holy Spirit of God that

lives inside of us. Don't think that your sin is not a big deal before God. It is, and in the life of David, God sent a prophet, Nathan, to declare to David. He brings before him a hypothetical circumstance.

I mentioned it earlier. The sheep that he bring, that this one man had one sheep, and he loved that sheep like a daughter, and he let the sheep eat with his family at his own table, and he loved that sheep.

And there was a rich man that had tons of sheep, and a friend came to visit, and the rich man, instead of killing one of his own sheep for a meal, he took and captured the man with one sheep, he captured that lamb and killed it and ate it.

And David was like, this is so messed up, we got to punish the rich guy. And then Nathan tells David, you are the man, you are the one that did this.

And God, because of this, as you have inflicted violence on other families, God's going to make it so that a sword, violence is not going to leave your house, which as you look at the rest of David's life, that happened where there were incredible

family turmoil and battles and things that David fought. Because what you put out is what's going to come back. We reap what we sow, as Galatians 6 would tell us. If we sow to the flesh, we will of the flesh reap corruption, destruction, ruin.

But if we sow life, we are going to reap life everlasting as a result. So God says this to David, and David finally owns up, fesses up. David and Bathsheba's baby is born, and he's incredibly sick.

And for seven days after the birth, David is in sackcloth and ashes, praying and begging God to save the child. At the end of seven days, the child passes.

David gets up, he washes himself, he puts on a new pair of clothes, and his servants are like, what in the world? Why are you doing this? And he says, while the child was alive, there was hope that God might restore him to full health.

He says, but now that he's gone, he won't come back to me, but I'm going to go to where he is.

And there we have, as in other places in scripture, the knowledge that we will, those infants that die are not under condemnation, but they are in the presence of God.

Even as Jesus mentions several times, that the kingdom of God belongs to little children, those most vulnerable.

And while we are justifiably shocked and appalled by the violence that's done in the name of abortion, by the heartbreaks of seeing kids suffer with hunger and starvation and sickness in third world countries and even in places like our country and

in going through trafficking, we know that God's heart is love for the little ones, that though they might have difficulties here on this earth, though they might be done wrong, God's justice will do right by them, that they are part of his kingdom,

that they are not condemned to hell, but that they are his children. And that those that have done wickedness, God has promised to judge. Perhaps, I don't know who all listens to this.

If you have been one, that perhaps you have had an abortion in your life, I want you to know that God has forgiveness for you. When we look at the life of Saul turned Paul, we realize God has forgiveness for even the very worst.

God has forgiveness for those that are murderers, those that are kidnappers. God has forgiveness for everyone. But you must call on him.

Repent of your sin and turn to Jesus. He will forgive. He will love.

If he gave up Jesus for you, then there is nothing that he will not forgive. Jesus is far more valuable than your greatest sin. So, David, David now has repented of his sin.

He's now contrite and he is hoping to turn to God. And it's in that circumstance that he writes Psalm 51. And I know that I need to go fast.

So, walk with me. If I need to do like a part two of this episode, I will.

Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love, according to your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion, completely wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. For I am conscious of my rebellion and my sin is always before me.

Against you, you alone, I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So, you are right when you pass sentence. You are blameless when you judge.

Here, David's not saying that his sin didn't affect anyone else, but he's saying truly, this sin was against God. It's against his character. It's against his nature and God's judgment is going to be what matters.

The kings all around Israel, they would have done this and had no problems with it. Like, they're the king. They can do what they want.

But David realizes, no, I have someone that I answer to and I need him to forgive me. I need him to give me compassion. I need him to wash away my sin because I am condemned before God.

Verse five, he says, indeed, I was guilty when I was born. I was sinful when my mother conceived me, that all of us, there's no human that's like perfect for the most part. And then occasionally like gets corrupted.

All of us have that sin nature that we are born with that we aren't born like perfect. And then we just get solid. You don't have to teach a kid how to lie.

You don't have to teach a kid how to hit others. They do it naturally. And here David says, my biggest problem is not just my sins that I've committed now, like who I am needs the cleansing of God.

He says, surely you desire integrity in the inner self and you teach me wisdom deep within. He says, you want me to be real with you on the inside, not just doing religious outward things. You want me to really be yours.

He says, purify me with hissup and I will be clean. Wash me and I will be wider than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness.

Let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Turn your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt. When we ask for God to cleanse us, to wash us clean, He will do it.

He is faithful and just to forgive our sins. Verse 10, God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

As believers now in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit permanently indwells us, so this is a prayer that we don't have to pray in that same way.

We know that God is always with us and though he can be grieved and quenched, he will never leave us or forsake us. Verse 12, David says, restore the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.

He says, God, in my sin, I am not happy. I am not joy-filled. He says, God, I need you to put your joy, the joy of your salvation in me.

Verse 13, he says, then I will teach the rebellious your ways and sinners will return you. The forgiven people, let others know that they can be forgiven. Verse 14, save me from the guilt of bloodshed.

God, God of my salvation, my tongue will sing of your righteousness. He says, God, I was responsible for the death of Uriah. And God, I need you to forgive me.

He says, Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise. I feel like I can't say anything because of my wickedness.

And God, I need you to open up my mouth so that I can tell people about how you forgive and how you save and how you restore. He says, you do not want a sacrifice or I would give it. You are not pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God. Here, as I highlighted in the Book of Leviticus, there was no sacrifice you could give for adultery or for murder.

The penalty was death. And yet here, in God's mercy, He forgives David. There are consequences for his actions, but there is forgiveness for things that there is no human forgiveness for.

We can't experience divine forgiveness. Maybe you feel like what you've done is too much, but God doesn't see it that way. He doesn't give forgiveness by human metrics.

He gives forgiveness because it's in His nature. And He wants a broken and a humbled heart. And David ends saying, in your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper.

Build the walls of Jerusalem. He says, God, let your people, let the place where your Ark of the Covenant and eventually your temple is, may it prosper. He says, then you will delight in righteous sacrifices.

Whole burnt offerings. Then bulls will be offered on your altar. He says, God, I want you to be praised.

But that's only going to happen as you don't destroy your people for their sin, but as you give them a new heart and make them new. I want to challenge you today, no matter what you've done, return to God.

If God can forgive the murderers and the adulterers, the kidnappers, the liars, the thieves, he can forgive you. God has forgiveness for everyone. He's not looking for the most righteous.

He's looking for those that are broken and humbled in heart. Let's not hold on to our sin. Let's not treasure it.

Let's come to God openly and honestly and say, I messed up and I need you. As we do that, we can experience joy. We can experience the Holy Spirit working in our lives, but let us turn to God in our sin.

Thank you and look forward to tomorrow's episode. It'll be a little bit less heavy than this one, but thank you for tuning in.