Psalm 51:18-19

Psalm 51, we'll be reading verses 18 and 19 this

morning. By your favor, do good to Zion. Build

the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight

in righteous sacrifices and burnt offerings and

whole burnt offerings. Then young bulls will

be offered on your altar. As we continue to consider

Psalm 51, we've been making our way through David's

journey back to fellowship with God as a justified

man. David has been a backslidden saint. He spent

a great deal of time in sin. Willingly. And finally,

he was brought to the point of repentance through

the prophet Nathan. Here we come to the culminating

point, the final place where David is brought

back to fellowship with God. In verses 18 through

19. There's three things that I would like us

to consider this morning. in this text. We'll

begin with the first, David's renewed concern

for the people of God. Notice in verse 18, he

says, by your favor, do good to Zion. Then he

says in the second half of this, he says, build

the walls of Jerusalem. David's concern in verse

18 and in verse 19, his care, the priority of

David's heart in this verse is the covenant people

of God. It's Zion. It's Jerusalem. It's the people

of God whom God has covenanted with. Zion and

Jerusalem, their places and their terms that

can reference other things other than the people,

but the essential meaning of Zion and Jerusalem

is the people of God whom God has covenanted

with. David is concerned with the people of God

in this text. But what is the nature? of his

concern in verse 18. Well, it seems at first

that he simply appeared with national Israel

or the national people of God. That's obviously

why he says, build the walls of Jerusalem. And

in an appeal for God to build the walls, he's

saying, God... I'm interceding on behalf of the

people. I'm praying for the people that you would

protect them, that you would strengthen them,

and that you would preserve them by building

their walls. He's asking God to protect the people

of God from enemies. from dangers, from threats.

He's asking God to strengthen and fortify the

people of God that they might be strong in the

face of those enemies. And he's asking God to

preserve them, to continue to build the walls.

But it's not merely physical or national Israel

that David is concerned about. It's not just...

their national well -being that he's talking

about. He says, by your favor, by your grace,

do good to Zion. Then he parallels this doing

good with the building of the wall. So in some

way, God builds the walls of Jerusalem by, in

his grace, doing good to Jerusalem and doing

good to Zion. But we also see that this work

that David appeals to God for in verse 18 produces

righteous sacrifices in verse 19. It produces

true and right and acceptable worship. If he's

asking God merely to build the walls of physical

and natural and national Jerusalem, that does

not guarantee pure, holy. righteous, acceptable

worship. What David is interceding for, what

David is asking God for on behalf of the people

of God is something that produces faithful worship

unto God. He's asking God to do something in

the life of the people that brings about righteousness

and uprightness so that they're giving sacrifices

to God in truth and sincerity from faith. He's

saying that he wants God to do something more.

He wants God to treat them in another way. It's

not simply national Israel that he's concerned

about, but it's a spiritual well -being of the

people of God that David is concerned about.

Yes, he wants God to, according to his grace,

do good to the people of God. Yes, he wants God

to build the walls of Zion, to build the walls

of Jerusalem. But he wants God to protect the

people spiritually. He wants God to protect them

from dangers and threats in their hearts, in

their souls. He wants God to strengthen them

and fortify their souls so that they're strong

in the face of sin, so that they're strong in

the face of doubt, so that they're strong in

the face of enemies from the devil, from the

dangers outside of themselves, from their own

transgression, their own iniquity. David is concerned

about the spiritual well -being of the people

of God. He's concerned about the church of God.

That's what David's worried about, brothers and

sisters. This is only appropriate. That David

is concerned about the people of God and their

well -being, isn't it? After all, hasn't David

brought harm to the people of God through his

sin? Hasn't David disturbed and hurt? and brought

violence to the household of God? Isn't it only

appropriate that David be concerned for the people

he is king over? It is. But we have to remember

that David failed Israel. He sinned. He broke

his covenant with God. He failed the people of

God. King David failed Zion. King David failed

Jerusalem. He failed to protect them. He failed

to strengthen them. And he failed to preserve

them because he couldn't do it. But brothers

and sisters, we have to be reminded of something

in this text. In David's failure as king over

the people of God, we are pointed to our great

and mighty king. who never will fail us. The

Lord Jesus Christ has never done anything that

has brought harm to the people of God. The Lord

Jesus Christ always protects, always strengthens,

and always will preserve the people of God and

their souls and their salvation. Christ will

never fail us. His church. The Lord Jesus Christ.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ. He will

not fail you. He is a great king. And he will

protect your soul from the devil. He will protect

your soul from hell. He will protect your soul

from sin. He is a good king that does not fail.

He only wins and he only succeeds and he only

does what he sets out to accomplish. So in David's

failure, we're reminded of Christ's great and

mighty success. And not only is our king, the

Lord Jesus Christ, the king, but he is the prophet,

the priest, and the king. And it's not just in

his work as king that he has succeeded, brothers

and sisters. It's in his work as a prophet and

as a priest that he always succeeds. He never

fails his people. If we think about Adam, he

was tested. He was tempted. He failed. If we

think about David, he was tested. He was tempted.

He what? Failed. If we think about the Lord Jesus

Christ, he was tested. He was tempted. Yet he

succeeded. And he always will succeed. That's

what we must be reminded of. He overcame on the

cross. He overcame in his life. He overcomes

as king. That is our king. And in David's failure,

we must always remember that. In some way, shape,

or form, we see that David's sin caused him to

neglect his kingly duties. His sin with Bathsheba

weakened and diminished his sense of obligation

to the people. But here, in this text, amazingly

enough, we see a renewal of that sense of duty

to the people of God. He's caring for God's people

again. He's thinking about them. He's interceding

for them. And he's actually seeking out their

good by praying for them. What's happened? What's

changed in David's heart and David's soul? It's

almost like he's forgotten about his sin and

his guilt. And he's concerned about the people

of God and God himself. This leads us to the

second thing we must see in this text. David's

renewed concern for God himself. Why does David

need his concern for the people of God and his

concern for God himself to be renewed? Well,

think about it. He was concerned for God himself.

And he was concerned for his people before his

sin. Before his sin, he was a faithful king.

He wasn't perfect. But before his sin, he did

have great concern for the people of God. And

he did care for God himself. He did have concern

for God and his glory and his worship. And then

in came his sin and his unwillingness to repent,

his selfishness, his transgression, his concealment

of his iniquity. And because of that, now we

find his desires and his affections need reoriented.

They need change because of the sin he has been

in. What's in David's forefront at this moment?

Well, what's been in David's, the forefront and

prominence of David's mind up to this point?

His guilt. His need for forgiveness. His shame

and his sorrow, his brokenness. His need for

purification, the absence, the conscious absence

of the Spirit of God in his life and his gracious

influence. These have been the things that have

dominated his conscious life, his mind, his heart.

Because sin was so prominent and took such a

prioritized place in his heart and his mind and

his life for so long. And when that happens,

everything else is pushed to the side or pushed

to the back. When sin and the object of sin are

given prominence, God in Christ, his commands,

his law, his requirements, they are pushed down

and they are pushed out, away. From us. So David

needs. To have his concern for God. Renewed.

Enlivened again. And here we see that it has

in fact. Been. Enlivened again. We see his concern

for God. Himself. In a few ways in this text.

First we see it in that it is God's. Work. That

he's appealing for. He's crying out that God

himself, by his favor, would do good to Zion.

He wants God's work in the life of God's people.

He's concerned that God would build the walls

of Jerusalem, that God would protect and strengthen

and preserve the people of God. The work of God

is prominent in his thinking, is prominent in

his heart at this moment in his prayer. It is

taking the lead. But it's not just the work of

God that's prominent and exalted in his mind

and his heart and his thoughts. But it's the

worship of God. We see this in verse 19. Then

you will delight in righteous sacrifices and

burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then

young bulls will be offered on your altar. He's

speaking of true. Faithful worship to God. And

David is concerned about this. Yes, he's concerned

about the people of God. But what is his great

concern? God himself. He wants the people of

God to give righteous sacrifices. But who are

those righteous sacrifices to be pleasing to?

God himself. He wants the people of God to offer.

Burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Who

is the smoke to ascend to, to be a pleasing aroma

to? God himself. He wants the people of God to

give sacrifices and worship to God as tokens

of their faith and true obedience. And who is

it that they would be believing in? God himself.

Who is it that they would be obedient? And whose

commands would they be in compliance with and

they'd be obedient to? God himself. Do you see

how David has a renewed concern for God and his

people in this text? God and his work, God and

his people has returned to the rightful place.

in David's heart, in David's mind, in David's

thinking. It's almost like he's been cleansed

of his corruption. It's almost like he's been

cleansed of the active pollution from his sin.

It's almost like the guilt has been washed away

from his conscience. It's almost like his sins.

have been forgiven. It's almost like he has in

fact been restored by God. This leads us to the

third thing in this text. David's restoration

that renewed these concerns. When we think about

this text, we look at it and we read it. We recognize

that it's a vastly different character. than

what came before it. We look at this text and

it almost seems totally out of place. I mean,

David's not praying that this will come about.

He's actually praying for the people of God now.

He's actually seeking their good by seeking the

face of God on their behalf. His longings and

his affections are set on the people of God and

on... God, why is he so different? What has changed

within him that now he's freely and in an unhindered

manner praying on behalf of the people of God,

wishing and desiring and longing good from God

to them? Well, he's praying differently because

he is different. He's praying like a restored

man. He's praying like a man who's in good and

right fellowship with God. So all of this time

we've been referencing David's restoration, David's

appeals, David's request, but what is restoration?

We've thrown brief definitions here and there,

but here we find that David is in fact restored,

I believe. Restoration is where God receives

the true repentance of the saint and restores

them back to good fellowship with himself. This

would include the forgiveness of sins. This would

include cleansing from corruption and pollution.

This would include... God's pardoning grace and

his purifying grace. This would include the restoration

of joy, the renewal of a steadfast spirit, the

return of a willing spirit. This would include

David's concern for the people of God and for

God himself. We have to conclude. From this text.

That his restoration results in a change in his

affections with regards to God and his people.

So we must look at this and we must examine David's

life. We must think this is a final fruit of

true repentance. But also, we must also recognize

that this is the ultimate result of restoration

with God. What would it be? That true repentance

leads to concern for God and others, particularly

his people. And that restoration always results

in love for God. and love for neighbor, particularly

the people of God. I want to offer a few applications

for this text. Just a few things for us to consider

as we think about restoration and think about

God's restoration of David upon David's true

and genuine repentance. Let me offer us a couple

of lessons with regards to the nature of sin.

And then let me offer us a couple of lessons

with regards to the nature of restoration. We

have to take away from this text that sin is

detrimental to others. That sin is not just harmful

to ourselves, but it's harmful. to other people

in our life. Yes, this was in a much larger extent

to David because he was king over the people

of God and he had a covenant with God with regards

to that. And then it affected and influenced

those underneath him. The sword would never leave

his household is what the Bible says. But the

same is true for us. When we sin, when you sin,

It's never in isolation from other people. It

always affects those closest to you. It always

affects those around you. And it always affects

the church of the living God. So you're not just

sinning yourself. It affects your wife. It affects

your husband. It affects your children negatively.

It strips you of your vital and godly influence

in their life. It strips you of your desire and

your longing to do good to them with the gospel

because of sin. It's detrimental to others. We

never sin without there being ripple effects

in the life of other people. When undealt with,

sin remains in our life. How does that affect

the people of God? What happens when you come

to the worship of God on the Lord's Day and you

have undealt with sin in your life? Do you worship

as you ought to? Do you fellowship as you ought

to? Do you edify and build up and encourage as

you ought to? No. It's detrimental to... Those

around you. It's selfish. That's what sin is.

It's being selfish. And it takes our eyes off

of others. It takes our eyes off of God himself.

Off of Christ and redemption. And it puts them

on us and our sin. Sin makes us more selfish

than we already are. It takes us down a dark,

dark rabbit hole. Sin is selfish, and it diminishes

our sense of duty to God and his people. Our

duty and our obligation to God and his church

remains even when we are in sin. However, when

we are in sin and we refuse to deal with sin

in our life, we have an unwillingness to fulfill

those obligations and those duties to God and

his people because the sin has stripped us. It's

diminished. It's decreased. It's taken away from

our desire, our sense of obligation and duty

to God. Have you ever experienced that in your

life, brothers and sisters? That when you refuse

to deal with your sin, you don't want to give

your duty and your service and your honor to

God and Christ. That's what it does. That's what

it did to David, and that's what it does to us.

It exalts all kinds of things into prominence

in your life. that ought not to be there. It

makes all kinds of things in this world to be

exalted and to be prominent and to take the forefront

of our mind, our heart, and our lives when God

and Christ and his word ought to be there. That's

what sin does. It exalts all kinds of things

right to the centerpiece of our lives. To such

an extent that we push everything out. Sin exalts

the world, the flesh, and the devil into a prominent

and a well -known place in our hearts. It takes

our priorities and it leads us all over the place,

all over the land, and it brings us to places

we don't want to go and we didn't want to be.

Sin exalts even good things to the place where

they shouldn't be. It exalts family members.

It exalts loved ones. It exalts children. It

exalts the world. It exalts the culture. It exalts

all kinds of activities and entertainment. Everything.

It can take anything and morph it and shape it

and place it right square in the middle of your

life and make you worship it. That's what sin

does. It exalts and gives prominence to all kinds

of things that ought not take priority in your

life. To where you take your affections and your

heart and your desires and your longings and

they're set squarely on that object. That's what

sin does. It dries up our love for others. That's

what sin does. It causes us to love ourselves

or something else, all the while we forget to

love our neighbor. We forget to love God. Because

our affections are tied up, with this thing we've

exalted and placed prominence on. We don't love

our fellow man and we don't love the church of

God when we are not dealing with sin in our lives.

It dries up our love for our wives, our children,

our husbands, our neighbors. our church, our

father, our mother. It makes us think about ourselves

and our sin to the extent that we don't love

others as we ought to. Brothers and sisters,

sin does all of these things. It's dangerous.

It's not to be held on to. It's not to be played

with. It's not something that you coddle and

you keep up with, that you just push to the side.

Sin is something that we repent of, and then

we ask for the forgiveness of our sins. Sin is

something we confess to God as unrighteous and

wicked, as deceitful. It's something we bring

to God as iniquity and evil, and we cry out to

Him, Father, forgive me for my sin. Sin does

all of these things in our hearts, and we let

it. We allow it to do these things. But thank

God it doesn't stop there. We can be restored

by God through Jesus Christ. Let me offer us

a few lessons or thoughts on the nature of restoration.

Restoration is always available and always effective

for those who will repent of their sin. As I've

said in previous messages on this text, God is

willing and ready to forgive you and me of my

sins if we'll just go to him and forsake our

sin. It's always there and it's always effective

in our life. He will forgive your sins. He will

cleanse your conscience of guilt. He will purge

you of your iniquity, your pollution, your corruption.

He will take away your shame and your sorrow.

He will pardon your sins if you'll go to him

and confess them. If you'll go to him and ask

him to forgive you. He's always willing. He's

always ready. Nothing's keeping him back except

the absence of true and genuine repentance, which

comes from us, brothers and sisters. It's always

there, it's always available, and it's always

effective. And when we truly repent, restoration

is always effective in our lives as well. Meaning

God always brings us back into fellowship with

him because of the Lord Jesus Christ, because

of our faith in him, because of a sacrifice.

And when we are restored because of Christ. Just

as our sin was detrimental to the people of God

and detrimental to those around us, our restoration

results in positive influence and impact through

vital godliness and holiness in the lives of

those around us once again. So it's not just,

brothers and sisters, that our sin affects people

around us, but your return to God affects those

around you as well. Impact on your family. Your

holiness and your godliness actually impacts

the people around you. When the Spirit of God

is graciously influencing you and working in

your heart, that impacts people. That affects

people in your life. So don't just turn from

your sin and be restored for yourself, but turn

from your sin and be restored with God and in

good fellowship with Him. For the sake of your

family. For the sake of those around you. For

the sake of your church. For the sake of God.

For his glory and his worship and his goodness

and his honor. You are keeping back your vital

godliness and your holy influence in the lives

of people because you won't give up your sin.

Because I won't give up my sin. So our... affects

those around us as well, just like our sin did.

Sin leads us. Restoration leads us beyond ourselves.

Where does it lead us? It leads us not to selfishness,

but being restored with God because of Christ

and his glorious sacrifice, actually leads us

to be unselfish. It leads us to sacrificial love.

It leads us to self -denial in loving others.

It doesn't take, it doesn't take away from people.

It doesn't get consumed with itself. It places

God in the place he ought to be. And then we

love others as we ought to because we're restored

through Jesus Christ and in good fellowship with

God. It leads us beyond ourselves to God and

his people. Now, The restored man, the restored

woman, the restored young person can rightly

edify, encourage, exhort, and worship God because

they're free from the hindrance of sin and corruption

and pollution and guilt in their life. You can

come to worship on the Lord's Day and you can

love those people you're sitting next to as you

ought to. That's the glorious reality associated

with restoration, and it's always available.

God will always restore you. He will always cleanse

your corruption, your conscience of guilt. It

will go to him. It leads us beyond ourselves,

and it leads us to impact others. It strengthens

our duty. to God and his church. Just as David's

sin weakened and diminished his kingly duties

and obligation to care for the people of God,

what did David's restoration produce and do with

regards to his kingly duties and his obligation

to God? It strengthened it. So if you want...

To be more obedient and more faithful to God

and the church. As a member of his kingdom and

unto him. What does that mean? It means asking

for the forgiveness of your sins and being restored.

That your sense of duty to the people of God

and to God himself. can be strengthened and edified

and built up by the Spirit of God at work in

our lives. Most importantly, I think, in all

of these, restoration results in giving Christ

in redemption, God himself, that place of prominence.

and exaltation in our thinking, in our heart,

and in our lives. It leads us to push other things

to the wayside, other things out, other things

down, and where does Christ and redemption go

with regards to our heart? Right smack in the

middle. That's what repentance brings in our

life. That's what... Restoration results in giving

Christ the rightful place in our hearts and in

our lives. To where our thoughts circulate around

him. To where our lives are involved with God

and Christ in everything we do. We see the people

of God, but it's always in light of God himself.

We see our activities and we see our job and

we see our work and we see our focus for the

day, but it's always with a view to our greater

concern, which is Jesus Christ. He's not diminished

or weakened or set aside. He's exalted and lifted

up because of restoration through Jesus Christ.

That's the reality. And just as sin dries up

our love, For our fellow man, restoration leads

us to care for the souls of others. If we think

about David, think about what he has experienced

in his restoration. And this glorious path back

to fellowship with God in repentance. He has

experienced the grace of God at work in his soul.

He has experienced the forgiveness of sins. He's

experienced pardoning grace and he's experienced

purifying grace. Now somebody who's experienced

the grace of God to such a degree, to somebody

who God has been so gracious and so merciful

and so compassionate and so kind to, how can

that person not want others to experience that

same? To know that same God who is so gracious

and so kind and so merciful. Restoration leads

us to love other people so that we're concerned

for their soul. Being right with God with regards

to fellowship leads us to wanting others. to

know God as we know him. We want them to be in

possession of the experiential religion in our

own heart, in their hearts, that we have in our

hearts. We want them to experience his work in

their life as we have. Really, somebody who's

been truly repentant and truly restored. They

can't help but be concerned for others because

of the grace that they themselves have been shown

through Jesus Christ. So we've seen that David

has a renewed concern for the people of God.

We've seen that David has a renewed concern for

God himself. And we see why. We see the basis

for this. the fact that he's been restored to

fellowship with God. The same can be true for

all of us. The same is true for those who turn

from their sin, trust in Christ, and look to

him for life.