Psalm 51:14-15

Psalm 51, we'll be reading verses 14 and 15.

Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the

God of my salvation. Then my tongue will joyfully

sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips,

that my mouth may declare your praise. the end

of Psalm 51. Over the next several weeks, I think

it's appropriate to just think and review a bit

about why we continue to hunker down in this

psalm. Some of you have been sitting here listening

to Psalm 51 for all these weeks, and you hear

it and you think, I don't know. of what this

says. I don't have the experience that David

has in my heart. I don't know what sorrow and

grief and mourning over my sin is like. I don't

know what this terrible struggle in my heart

is like. Some of us don't know what it's like

to cry out to God to help us. Because of our

own sinfulness. And the reason you don't is because

you don't have the Spirit of God dwelling within

you. You are not in possession of these realities

in your very soul. God has not given them to

you in your soul. So take note of the reality

that you are missing these things in your heart.

That you need these things. Let the absence of

these realities drive you to Christ and to take

refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ, where these

can become realities in your soul. I think there's

another group that would think, and I've had

to answer in my own head, my own heart, as we

continue to study this. Why do we continue to

spend time in this penitential song? Why do we

continue to talk about repentance week in and

week out? Why do we keep talking about forsaking

sin and confessing sin? Why do we keep talking

about week after week about dealing with sin

in our lives? Why is this so relevant to our

hearts? Why does he keep focusing on this? Why

do we need to keep learning about repentance

and faith in our lives? Can't we move on to something

different? Brothers and sisters, we have to continue

focusing on faith and repentance because you

continue to sin. Because I continue to sin in

my life. I continue to desperately need the Lord

Jesus Christ to sanctify me just as you do. Therefore,

we need to continue learning about these things.

So don't brush it off. Lay into it. Lean into

the word of God and let it affect you. Let it

change you. Let it sanctify you. Receive it in

your hearts, in your mind, in your souls. Let

God work in your soul as he so desires to. Open

up your heart that he might have free access

to every single area, every single recess, every

single part, every single thought. That you might

be transformed. That you might come to love the

Lord Jesus Christ more and more and more. So

today, as we continue in Psalm 51 and verses

14 and 15, we're looking at three things in David's

psalm of repentance. We're going to look at the

dilemma he is facing. We're going to look at

the solution he is seeking. And we're going to

look at the result. he longs for. First, the

dilemma he is facing. David, in verses 14 and

15, has a dilemma that he's dealing with, doesn't

he? He is facing a difficult reality in his life.

He cannot worship and praise God as he ought

to. He wants to open his mouth and praise God.

He wants to gladly sing of God's righteousness.

He wants to declare God's works and God's righteousness

to him. But he can't. You see, it's an issue

of worship in his life. He can't do it. Why?

What's the issue? He can't worship because of

guilt in his conscience, in his heart, in his

life, because of his sin. He wants to worship

God rightly. He longs to worship Christ truly.

He longs to praise him and declare his righteous

works, but he can't in his current state, in

his current condition. There are several reasons

for this. The primary being, Blood guilt. The

text reads, deliver me from blood guiltiness.

Now why does David feel guilt in his conscience?

And why does it refer to blood guiltiness? Think

about David's sin and the events that transpired

over that time. What blood is David... Guilty

of shedding. What is the guilt on his conscience

as a result of his sin and his transgression?

Well, he's guilty of much blood in his life.

There's rightful guilt on his conscience. Uriah,

the husband of Bathsheba, the woman he took.

and committed an affair with? The woman he committed

adultery with, he killed her husband? Had him

murdered? What about the blood of his son that

went to the grave as a result of David's sin?

David's guilty for Uriah and his blood. David's

guilty for the blood of his son. What about all

those that would die in his household after him

because he broke his covenant with God? There's

a great deal of guilt rightfully and justifiably

on David's conscience as a result of his actions,

and it is debilitating on his worship of God.

Has anybody ever experienced this? You come to

church on the Lord's Day, but you don't want

to worship God. Am I the only one that's ever

experienced that? You come to church on the Lord's

Day, and you don't want to sing praises to God.

You don't want to give Him what is rightfully

His. Because... There's guilt on your conscience

because of an action that you have committed

that is sinful in the sight of that holy God.

Brothers and sisters, it's a very real dilemma

that you and I will continue to struggle with,

that you and I will continue to face, that David

deals with right here. And that's not even the

biggest issue of this. The biggest issue of all

of this in David's life is not that he has guilt

on his conscience. It's not that he can't worship

God. The biggest issue is that God is always

rightfully owed worship. The biggest issue is

that God is always worthy of being exalted. So

what does sin and guilt do? With regards to God's

worship, what's it doing in David's life? It's

robbing God of his worship. The guilt on David's

conscience is prohibiting him, is hindering him.

It is acting as a stumbling block to his worship,

which is due the glory is holy and good name

of God. God doesn't get his worship. Because

David and his guilt. God is always worthy to

be praised. Regardless of our sin. Our choices.

Our desires and our longings. Regardless of how

we feel today or tomorrow. That does not change

the fact that God is worthy to be exalted and

praised and worshipped and glorified. He remains

worthy, regardless of our sin and our choices.

So David's guilt and David's sin is keeping him

from worshiping God as he ought to. It's keeping

him from giving God the praise and honor and

worship that is due his name rightfully. What

is it that's keeping you from worshiping God

as you ought to today? What is it today that

is in your heart that you are unwilling to deal

with, that you are unwilling to let go of, that

you are unwilling to give up, that's keeping

your worship from God's glory? Is it pride? Is

it arrogance? Is it self -righteousness? Is it

wealth? What is stealing away your heart from

God so that you aren't worshiping him as you

ought to? Is it immorality? Is it vanity? Is

it how you look and how you appear and it's an

idol in your life? Is it envy and covetousness?

Are you envying somebody's house? Are you envying

somebody's husband, somebody's wife, somebody's

situation, and you continue to deal with that

and you refuse to give it up? Is it the worry

and concern of the world, brothers and sisters?

Is it pulling your mind and your heart and your

longings? Are your affections set on things in

this life, in this world? In constraining and

restricting your worship of God? Maybe it's the

fact that you know you need to repent of sin,

but you won't repent of sin because you don't

want to appear as though you're a sinner. You

know in the back of your head and you know in

your heart you have to deal with this sin, but

you won't because you want to appear wise. You

want to appear holy. You want to come off a certain

way. Maybe it's the fact that you say everything's

okay, but your marriage is in shambles. Maybe

it's the fact that you come to church every day

or every Sunday. You sing with your mouth, but

you don't love your wife. Maybe it's the fact

that you idolize your children. Maybe it's pornography.

Brothers and sisters, the list goes on and on

and on. What is keeping you from worshiping God

as you ought to be worshiping God? What is robbing

God of his glory in your life because you won't

let go of it? If this remains undealt with in

your life, You will not worship God as he ought

to be worshipped. If you do not repent of your

sin that you are dealing with in your life, if

you refuse to deal with your sin, you won't praise

him as he ought to be praised. And he is worthy

to be praised. He remains worthy to be praised.

Christ's name is meant to be exalted regardless

of what you're dealing with in your life. This

is David's dilemma. This is our dilemma. This

leads us to the solution he is seeking. Secondly,

how does David seek to solve this dilemma? The

solution is two parts really. The first being

God's part. David cries out, deliver me from...

blood, guiltiness. O God, the God of my salvation,

then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness.

It has to do with God's deliverance of David

from this guilt in his conscience and the sin

in his life. It has to do with the pardoning

of his sins and the cleansing of his conscience

from those sins. David knows that he will never

have a cleansed and purified conscience unless

God forgives his sins. You see, David understands

that he doesn't just need God's pardoning grace,

he needs God's Purifying and cleansing grace

on his conscience. But this also means that a

cleansed conscience is a token sign of God's

pardoning grace in our life. Meaning, if you

have a clean conscience according to the word

of God, then you can rest. And have assurance

of the fact and the reality that God has in fact

answered your prayer and forgiven your sins.

But brothers and sisters, if your conscience

remains unclean and defiled, if your conscience

is still condemning you and convicting you over

and over and over, then consider your repentance.

Was it genuine? Was it sincere? Have you really

dealt with the sin in your life if your conscience

is still condemning you? David knows this. David

knows that if God will pardon his sins and restore

him and renew him, that his conscience will be

cleansed and purified from those sins. The actual

guilt from those sins will be... Removed. Now

this is powerful if we think about it. The fact

that God pardons and purifies his people in an

ongoing and perpetual manner when they repent

and that he will do so when they confess their

sins. But it's also important to understand that

just because God pardons our sins, and God purifies

our consciences, we can't undo the actions that

were carried out in those sins that brought about

that guilt. David's sin can be forgiven. David's

guilt can be cleansed and washed away. by the

blood of Christ. But that doesn't mean that Uriah

will be brought back. That doesn't mean his son

will come back from the grave. That doesn't mean

that all those who would die would not die now.

The consequences for his sin remain, even if

the guilt and the sin is removed. It's meant

to be an exhortation and a warning, brothers

and sisters, that we should heed. If you sin,

Jesus Christ has accomplished the work for your

sins to be forgiven. They can be pardoned by

the blood of Christ. Your guilt can be removed

and taken away, but that does not mean there

won't be consequences for your sin. It doesn't

mean that things won't come about in your life

as a result of your bad choice. Because of your

transgression and your iniquity. Yes, God will

use it for the good of his people, but there

will be consequences. It's meant to be a deterrent

for you to sin and to stir you up. Unto holiness.

Consider the reality. That yes our guilt can

be washed away. It can be cleansed. Yes our sins

can be pardoned. And they can be forgiven. But

there are real actual consequences. For sinning

in this world. That God has made. And they will

follow and proceed. Now I said. A moment ago.

That it's very powerful. If we think about the

reality. That Christ. Sacrifice is sufficient

to cover our sins, to pardon us and to purify

us. It's incredible to think about the reality

of the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice and

his death. Here is David, an adulterer. Here

is David, a murderer. But here is David. The

man who can be forgiven. The man whose conscience

can be cleansed. If he'll but repent. There's

no sin in your life. There's no iniquity. There's

no transgression that is so great that the sacrifice

of Jesus Christ is not sufficient to pardon it.

Do you understand that? As a believer in Jesus

Christ, all your sins are forgiven. As a believer

in Jesus Christ, his grace is sufficient to cover

all your sins and to purify you in your conscience

of that guilt. Do you know that, brothers and

sisters? Have you murdered somebody? Have you

committed adultery? Is your sin, your iniquity,

and your transgression worse than David's? No.

Brothers and sisters, in Jesus Christ, there

is absolute sufficiency for the forgiveness of

sins and the cleansing of the conscience. This

is for those in Christ, and this is true of those

outside of Christ, if they will but come to Christ

in repentance and faith. There is no sin so great

that his blood won't save you from it. There's

no wickedness so... that his blood is not so

precious that it will wash all that iniquity

away. That it will cleanse you of your sinful

deeds and your dead works and your conscience.

That's how great and mighty and excellent and

beautiful and powerful his blood and his sacrifice

is. If you'll but trust in that sacrifice. This

is what God does. In Christ. This is what God

does in the work of Jesus Christ. He forgives

sin and he purifies the conscience of that sin.

For believers, this still means that we must

believe in that good work. Yes, God cleanses

the conscience. Yes. God pardons sin, but you

have to believe it. You have to trust in it.

This is David's part in it. This is David's part

of the solution. Faith and trust in the promise

of God and the forgiveness of sins following

genuine repentance. David believed. that his

sins would be forgiven. He was believing this

reality. He believed that he would worship God

rightly and truly. He believed that he would

praise God as he ought to do so. This is a glorious

promise of the gospel. We read in 1 John 1, 9,

which we've read multiple times in this series.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous

to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from

all unrighteousness. Brothers and sisters, God

is always, always willing to forgive your sins.

God is always ready, eager, And willing to cleanse

your conscience of guilt. He is always ready

to remove the shame from your conscience and

from your heart. If we will but confess our sins

to him. He's not slow in forgiving us our sins,

is he? He's not slow in cleansing the conscience.

But brothers and sisters, we. We are slow in

going to Him in repentance and faith. We drag

our feet in going to the throne and giving up

our sin. It's not Him. He will forgive your sins.

And He will continue to forgive your sins. For

those in Jesus Christ, There is an innumerable

degree and amount of forgiveness for those in

Christ. Again, because of the sufficiency of

Jesus Christ in his work. He will continue to

forgive. He will keep forgiving. But brothers

and sisters, we must keep believing. We must

keep repenting. It's a glorious promise of the

gospel that God is always willing to forgive

and to cleanse, and we must be always willing

to repent and believe in that glorious promise

of the gospel. This is the solution David is

seeking, and we saw God's part in the solution.

his deliverance from guilt and shame, his forgiveness,

his pardoning grace, and his purifying grace.

And we see David's part, faith in God's promise

to forgive his sin following genuine repentance.

This leads us thirdly and lastly to the result

that David so longs for. What does David want

to come about as a result? of this solution to

his dilemma? Well, he wants to be able to worship

God rightly, doesn't he? He longs to praise God

as he ought to praise God. He wants to be able

to open his mouth and praise God. David wants

to be able to gladly sing. and joyfully and happily

sing of God's righteousness towards him. This

is why he says, Then my tongue will joyfully

sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips

that my mouth may declare your praise. He wants

to both be enabled to praise God and he wants

to be able to do so rightfully out of grace and

the experience of the forgiveness of sins. He

would have it, and he desires and he longs to

worship and praise God from the experience of

grace in his life. He wants to worship God from

a place of being forgiven by his sins. But he

also wants to worship God freely, without the

constraint of guilt on his conscience. He wants

to be able. to praise God without the binding

of a guilty conscience upon him. Both of these

necessitate faith and repentance. Both. Let me

offer you three applications for these. We've

seen the dilemma, the solution, and the result.

We've already made several applications, but

let me offer you a few. The first is this. Beware

of the form of worship. Or we could say beware

of a form of worship. David very well could have,

we don't want to assume, He very well could have

continued to open his mouth and sing and praise

God while clinging to sin in his life. Now, if

David would have done this, it certainly would

have been a form of worship. He would have been

making noise. He would have been using words.

He would have been using mouth. But there would

not have been any substance whatsoever to his

worship. It's the idea that a person walks in

to worship God on a Sunday morning. They're wearing

their normal clothes. They sing. They pray. They

worship. They sing loudly. Everybody can see.

Everybody watches. Everybody hears. But underneath

their clothes, they have little idols taped to

their body. They're worshiping God while clinging

to idols on them. They're bringing idols into

the worship of God. Are they really worshiping

God if their idols remain? Will God accept that

worship? Will God be pleased with that worship?

Or does that individual need to take those idols

out and crush them, cut off their arms, cut off

their feet, and cut off their head and let it

fall over on the threshing floor? Beware of a

form of worship. Do not simply use your mouth

to make noise when your heart is far, far away.

From Christ. If there is sin in your life. And

you are not willing to give it up. Then you are

doing something. But it is not worshiping. If

you have conscious. Willing sin. In your heart

and your mind. And you are singing and making

noise. And you are praising God. You are doing

something. But it is not worshiping the Holy

God. In truth and spirit. Crush the idol. Then

worship God. Deal with the sin, then sing praises.

The idea is not to keep you from worship. The

idea is to get you to deal with the sin so that

you truly can worship. So beware of a form of

worship. Secondly, be exhorted to prepare your

hearts for worship. All of this... teaches us

that we need to be cautious of our own hearts,

doesn't it, brothers and sisters? Have you ever

considered your relationship with sin to the

worship of God? Have you ever considered how

your sin affects the worship of God, your worship

of God? Of all things in this life, of all things,

we ought to spend time thinking, praying, considering,

examining our hearts to see if there are idols

in them, if we are clinging to things before

we seek to worship a holy and a sovereign and

a good God. Take time before the worship of God

to examine your hearts. Think about Saturday

night. What do I need to deal with from this

previous week in my heart so that I can worship

God rightly tomorrow? Get rid of the idols before

you come into his glorious presence. Examine.

And be exhorted to prepare your hearts for worship.

He's always worthy of our praise and our honor.

He's always worthy of it. Be sure of your worship

this morning. As I was working on this message,

my heart longed to worship the way that David

desires to worship. My heart longs to experience

the worship that he desired where my mouth freely

worships God without the hindrance of sin. Free

of guilt. Brothers and sisters, we can possess

that which he desired. You can possess that which

David so longed for if you'll but deal with your

sin this morning. Do you understand that? That

you can be free in your heart to worship God

from guilt in your conscience this morning. This

next song, you can sing like you've never sung

before if you'll just deal with the sin in your

heart right now. You can praise God as you never

have if you'll search your hearts and you'll

deal with your hearts and you'll deal with the

iniquity and the corruption that is running wild

in them. You can be sure that your worship is

true and sincere and heartfelt and you can be

free of your guilt. If you will go to God now

and you will pray to him and you will repent

of your sin and trust in the blessed promise

that he will forgive your sins. That can be a

reality in your heart and your soul now. You

don't have to wait till tomorrow to deal with

your sin. You don't have to wait till you go

home to repent of sin in your life. You don't

have to wait to get right in your fellowship

with God, brothers and sisters. You don't need

to push it off. Do it now. Repentance is not

a physical act where we get up and go and do

something. Repentance is dealing with God in

prayer. It's a spiritual act, a spiritual motion.

Go to him now. Deal with your heart and give

him the worship and give him the praise that

he is due. We can all experience that. Don't

be slow in going to God for the forgiveness of

sins. Brothers and sisters, he's eager. He's

willing. He's ready to forgive you right now.

He's eager, he's ready, he's willing to cleanse

your conscience of guilt, to give purity in your

heart, to renew you, to restore you right now.

If you will go to him. If you will believe his

promise that he will forgive your sins.