Psalm 51:12

Psalm 51, we're going to read verses 1 through

12, verses 1 through 12. Be gracious to me, O

God, according to your lovingkindness. According

to the greatness of your compassion, blot out

my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my

iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know

my transgressions. And my sin is ever before

me against you. You only I have sinned and done

what is evil in your sight so that you are justified

when you speak and blameless when you judge.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and

in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire

truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden

part you will make me know wisdom. Purify me

with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and

I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear

joy and gladness. Let the bones which you have

broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and

blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean

heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within

me. Do not cast me away from your presence and

do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore

to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me

with a willing spirit. In Psalm 51, our exposition

will focus in verse 12, which reads, Restore

to me the joy of your salvation. and sustain

me with a willing spirit. There's three things

that we must observe in this text, and we must

take time to consider. The first being the salvation

that David previously enjoyed. The second is

the discontinuity between God's salvation and

David's enjoyment of it. The third being the

way forward. to enjoying God's salvation now.

Starting with the salvation that David previously

enjoyed. We see in verse 12 that David is crying

out to experience the joy of God's salvation.

He's crying out to experience it, to enjoy God's

salvation, because he's not at the moment. He

does not have joy as a result of God's saving

work in his heart, in his mind, in his soul.

He is not rejoicing. He is not satisfied. He

is not fulfilled. He is not pleased and he is

not delighting in Christ at this moment. He has

before, but he's not now. We read in Psalm 16.

And listen for joy and delight and satisfaction

and pleasure and God and the saving realities

of God in Psalm 16. Preserve me, O God, for I

take refuge in you. I said to the Lord, You are

my Lord. I have no good besides you. As for the

saints who are on the earth, they are the majestic

ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of

those who have bartered for another God will

be multiplied. I shall not pour out their drink

offering of blood, nor will I take their names

upon my lips. The Lord. is the portion of my

inheritance in my cup. You support my lot. The

lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed,

my heritage is beautiful to me. I will bless

the Lord who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind

instructs me in the night. I have set the Lord

continually before me. Because he is at my right

hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart

is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also

will dwell securely, for you will not abandon

my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy

One to undergo decay. You will make known to

me the path of life, and your presence is fullness

of joy. In your right hand, there are pleasures

forever. When we read Psalm 16, can you sense

the happiness in David's heart because of the

Lord and his work and his life? Can you take

away from Psalm 16 that David finds pleasure

and delight? in salvation and its redemptive

realities. He's missing that in Psalm 51. He's

not in possession of the enjoyment of God and

salvation, but he wants it back. He wants to

experience it again. We know that David is not

experiencing it at the moment. But that's not

because God and salvation has changed. That's

not because the saving realities are different

than they were before. It's because David himself

has changed. Why does David not experience joy

at this moment? Is it because God has changed?

Is it because God's grace and his mercy have

lessened in their character and their quality

and their supreme greatness? Or is it because

David himself has been altered? David himself

has changed. The saving realities of salvation,

the glorious and the supreme realities of redemption

which God has accomplished on behalf of his people,

Do not change. But his people change. His people's

hearts change. Their affections change. Their

minds change over time. We age. We become different

with age. We fluctuate. We go up and we go down

at times. Salvation does not change. And the

greatness of salvation does not change, brothers

and sisters. Consider the gloriousness, the supremacy

of Christ and the work which he has accomplished.

Consider the reality that the blessed Son of

God took on flesh. And entered into the very

creation which he spoke into existence. He took

on flesh and he was born of a woman. He became

a woman. He became a baby. Let's back up. Be

amazed. Stand in awe of the reality of what Christ

has done. Stand in awe of the reality that the

blessed son of God took on flesh and was born

of a woman and became a babe. We can talk about

that. We can say that all day long. But what

does that do to your hearts? What does that do

to your souls? What does that do to your feelings,

brothers and sisters? What does that stir up

inside of you? Because that is a grand and a

glorious reality. We should not allow that to

roll off our tongues lightly. The substance and

the reality of redemption, of God himself, his

grace, his mercy, what does it do to you? What

effect does it have on you? What does it produce

in you? Consider the reality. That Jesus Christ

lived a perfect life. The absolute impossibility

of that for you and me. It was such a difficult

task that even the Lord Jesus Christ in the days

of the flesh had to be filled with the Spirit

of God to accomplish it. He was filled as a baby.

He was filled when he was a young boy at 12.

He was filled in the desert when he went off

to be tempted. Why? Because of the ginormous

nature of the task. Because of the difficulty

of the work. Yet he accomplished it. He never

sinned. He lived in perfect, positive obedience

to the law, and he never transgressed it. He

obtained righteousness. Think about the beauty

of that reality and the fact that he did that

for people who have never lived a perfect life.

He did that for people who are sinners, who don't

deserve that perfection and that holiness and

that righteousness. His grace and His mercy on

display. Consider the grand reality of the cross.

Consider the supreme beauty of the Lord Jesus

Christ on the cross of Calvary. And what He accomplished.

He satisfied the wrath of God on behalf of God's

elect. He turned away the wrath of God and he

satisfied the payment that was required of sinners

who couldn't do it themselves? What does that

do to your heart? What does that stir inside

of you? Because that's not a concept. That's

not an idea, brothers and sisters. That is reality.

That is what God has done for sinners. And he

didn't stop there. He didn't simply take care

of their sin. Christ rose from the dead. He conquered

the grave of his own power and his own authority.

He ascended to the Father. And the Lord Jesus

Christ, the God -man, rules and reigns in heaven

right now. As we worship him, as his word is

preached, as you sit here worshiping, he is present

in heaven observing us. This is not a concept.

This is not an idea. This is reality. This is

truth. This is what is happening right now. What

does that do to your hearts? What does that produce

within you? we would think, considering the greatness

of these realities, that there's ample supply

and cause for joy. When we consider the grandness

of salvation, the abundant beauty of the work

of Christ, His mercy and His grace, we would

think that the people of God would always delight

in Christ. We would always rejoice in the Lord.

We would always be satisfied in reading the Word

of God as His revelation. You would think that

we would always enjoy and be pleased and delighted

in God, in Christ, and the work which He has

accomplished. Is there not ample supply and cause?

in the work of God and salvation, for the joy

of his people in every circumstance, in every

situation? Does Christ's death not provide ample

reason for you to rejoice in difficult times?

Does Christ's resurrection not provide ample

reason an abundant provision for you to enjoy

God throughout the day? It does. So why don't

the people of God constantly, always rejoice

in the Lord? We don't. We can't. There's a discontinuity.

Between the greatness and the supremacy of the

character of these redemptive realities and salvation

and what it does inside of us. This is the second

thing we have to look in this text. The discontinuity

between God's salvation and David's enjoyment

of it. David has experienced this salvation.

He's delighted and he's enjoyed this salvation.

but he's not now. There's a breach. There's a

break. There's a disruption between the greatness

of these realities and their character, their

value, their worth. And our experience of those

realities in our affections, in our hearts, in

our minds, in our desires, and in our wills.

Everybody knows what I'm talking about. You know

what I'm talking about. I know what you're talking

about. Every single person here knows this reality

because you know you don't love Christ as you

ought. You know you don't rejoice as you ought

to rejoice. It's because there's this discontinuity.

between the grandness of these realities and

how they work out in our hearts and how they

work out in our minds, how they work out in our

feelings, how they work out in our affections,

in our longings, in our satisfaction, in our

contentment, in our pleasure in Christ. There

is a disruption between the character of salvation

and God himself. And the experience of our hearts.

And we all know it. We're all familiar with it.

We know this disparity. Because we want to love

God more. We want to rejoice more. We want. To

delight in these realities to a greater degree.

But it's so difficult, it's so hard, it nearly

seems impossible at times. This is an ever relevant

issue that David is dealing with. He wants to

experience joy from salvation. He wants to enjoy

God in salvation and the things of God, but he

can't. Can you relate to that? We don't appreciate

them as we ought to. We're in possession, through

Christ, of the grandest, most supreme realities

that exist. Our fate is tied up with the fate

of the known world, of the universe. Yet we can't

be happy in these things. We're in possession

of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet we don't delight

in him as we ought to. We don't show gratitude

to God for redemption as we ought to. Seemingly,

at times, these great realities of salvation

Don't even seem to make a difference in our lives.

They don't even seem to have an effect on us.

This is a universal Christian predicament. Every

single one of us has this issue. Every single

one of us deals with this. You, me. And every

other person who knows the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the reality is that this is a sad thing.

It's a sad thing. It's sad because of what we're

in possession of. And what we're satisfied with.

It's sad because of what we're in possession

of. and what makes us happy in life. It's sad

because of the glorious and the grand realities

we're in possession of through Jesus Christ and

what stirs our hearts. It's sad because of what

we do find enjoyment in. It's sad because we're

in possession of infinite, eternal, gems, infinite

diamonds of mercy, everlasting rubies that outshine

everything in this world. Yet what are we satisfied

with? What are we happy with? Fool's gold. We

settle for that which is meaningless. We settle

for that which has no eternal impact and significance

on our lives. When in reality we are in possession

of Christ who is of infinite good and infinite

worth and infinite value. Yet these things down

here tickle our minds and tickle our ears. They

stir our affections as he ought to. They stir

our affections in our hearts. As these grand

realities ought to. This was David's issue. This

was David's problem, wasn't it? He was in possession

of the same things we're in possession of in

Christ. Yet what did he take pleasure in more

than God and salvation? The flesh. He delighted.

In Bathsheba more than he delighted in Christ.

He enjoyed Bathsheba more than he enjoyed God

himself. It's a sad reality. But there's a reason

that this reality exists. There's a reason that

this discontinuity is present in our lives. The

cause of it. Is sin and corruption within us.

There's this disparity between God and the character

of salvation. And our affections. Because of

sin and corruption within us. Why is that? Because

when sin is prominent in our life. That means

corruption. Becomes more prominent. In our hearts.

Prominence of sin. Lead. To strengthened. And

intensified. Corruption. Within the soul. Thus.

Weakening. The desires and the will. For that

which is holy and righteous. And strengthening

the desires and the will. For that which is what?

Wicked. The prominent principle within our hearts

is that which exerts the most influence on our

desires, on our longings, on our will, on our

decisions, on our thinking. It's that which influences

whether or not we are rejoicing, whether or not

we are loving, whether or not we are... delighting

or being fulfilled in Christ. David gave prominence

to sin and corruption built and that influenced

his heart and stripped him of enjoyment of God

and strengthened his will and his desires and

his longings for that which is wicked. It dulled

him to holy and righteous things. And it enlivened

him to wicked things. So there's a cause for

this discontinuity. And the reality is this.

The truth of the matter is this. We cannot enjoy

God as we ought to in this life. We can't. It's

as though because of sin, And it's corruption.

For some, there are chains on their enjoyment

of God, on their affections, on their joy, on

their pleasure, on their delight, on their satisfaction.

There's chains restraining them and pulling them

down. For others, there's ropes. For others,

there's strings. There's a small line. But the

fact of the matter is, we cannot. Enjoy God as

we ought in this life because of our remaining

sin, because of our remaining corruption, and

also we will not in this life. Those chains,

those ropes, and those strings, they will stay

with us until the day we die and go to the grave.

In the days of your life in this world, you will

never love God as fully as you could. As fully

as you ought to because of the sin within you.

It's true of you. It's true of me. It's true

of every sinner in this life that has a sin nature.

But the day is coming when those strings will

be cut. The day is coming when the chains will

be stripped away. The day is coming when Christ

will call us forth from the grave. The day is

coming when we will enter into the fullness of

the joy. Unlike wicked men who don't know Christ,

who have the fullness of their joy in this life,

their glory in this life, and then they lose

it at the grave. Men who are believers in Jesus

Christ, those who know Christ, the people of

God, they may experience hardship and difficulty

in this life, but when they were raised, Brothers

and sisters, it is unto glory, it is unto life,

and it is unto the fullness of joy. Those chains

will be taken away. And you will love God as

you ought to. You will enjoy God in Christ. As

you can, as God intended, without the restraint

of sin in you. You will delight in the Lord Jesus

Christ and the saving realities which he has

accomplished in a way that you are incapable

of doing so in this life, in this world right

now. We will enter into the fullness of joy.

So we know the cause of this disruption or this

discontinuity. It's sin. Just as it was so for

David, it's sin and corruption within him. The

very presence of corruption within us hinders

us from loving God as we ought to. And willful.

Unrepentant sin greatly, greatly increases and

intensifies our inability to rejoice in the Lord.

It takes away our senses so that we love God

as we ought, so that we're satisfied and fulfilled

in Him. Don't we see that with David? discontinuity

is caused by sin, but it also affects the will.

Because David says in Psalm 51, in the second

half of the verse, verse 12, and sustain me with

a willing spirit. So David is paralleling the

absence of joy with unwillingness. That means

that if he were to have joy, he would be paralleling

it with A willing spirit. Saying there's a relationship

between enjoying God and willing obedience to

God. He's showing us the reality which we all

understand that if we enjoy something, we willingly

take part in that thing. So if we enjoy Christ,

if we delight in God, if our affections are stirred

for the Lord Jesus Christ and these infinite

gems, then that means we're more willing to walk

in a manner that's in step with salvation. We're

more willing to obey the commands of Christ.

We're more willing to walk in accordance with

the salvation of God. But this isn't absolute.

It's not an absolute relationship in that just

because I don't desire Christ doesn't mean I

can't will for obedience. Now, we know that's

present because David is not enjoying God at

the moment. David is not experiencing great joy

in his heart yet. He's exercising his will to

repent of sin and to seek. The face of God through

prayer. This leads us to the way forward to enjoying

God now. David's lost it. And it's important

for us to understand that he didn't lose salvation.

He's lost the enjoyment of that salvation. By

grace, he is in possession of all saving realities.

But that does not mean... That he's receiving,

he's experiencing joy as a result of all these

saving realities. So how do we, after we've lost

it, restore it if possible? We must place duty

before desire. We have to. You don't wait around

for enjoyment of God to obey God. Just because

we don't feel like reading our Bibles. Just because

we don't desire to pray to God. Just because...

I don't desire to go to church and worship. Just

because I don't desire to have an edifying conversation

does not mean that the duty does not still remain.

We can't wait around for desire to obey. The

greatness of God's salvation is unchanging. The

obligations and the commands. of that salvation

and the law of God are unchanging. We must place

duty before desire. That's what David is doing.

We must exercise the will in hopes of bringing

along the desire. So what do you do? when you

don't desire God? What do you do when you don't

enjoy the things of God and salvation? What do

you do when you don't enjoy worshiping God? You

use your will and you obey anyways. Surely, if

there's a relationship between enjoyment of God

and the will, as we see in the text, then there's

also a relationship between the will and our

enjoyment of God. There's times, brothers and

sisters, when you're just going to have to pick

up your desire and take it along for a trip,

whether it wants to go or not, because you have

to obey Christ because he's a good master and

he's a good Lord. Whether or not you feel like

it. Use your mind, use your will, and obey, even

if you don't desire it, even if you don't long

for it, even if you don't enjoy doing it. This

is why Paul exhorts Timothy to discipline yourself

for the purpose of godliness. Because discipline

is not dependent on desire. We have to discipline

ourselves for the purpose of godliness and holiness

in our lives so that we pursue Christ even when

we don't desire Christ. That's what you have

to do and that's what I have to do, brothers

and sisters. When you don't feel like it, will

it? When you don't want it, will it? Do it. And

hopefully, your desires will change gradually.

They will be morphed over time. After all, isn't

this part of sanctification? Isn't this part

of God's gracious work of sanctification in the

life of His people? Will He not graciously change

us and transform us over time? We must also recognize,

we must realize that change within us is never

an excuse to sin against God. Just because something

is going on in your heart does not give you cause

to transgress a holy and a righteous The changes

within us have to take a back seat from time

to time so that we're obedient to his holy and

his righteous requirements of us in this life.

We cannot excuse away our actions. We cannot

excuse away our transgressions, our iniquity,

our slanderous speech. We cannot excuse away

our evil tongue and its consequences. Just because

I'm going through something, just because I'm

dealing with something, the changes within us

are never an opportunity to excuse sin against

a great and a good and a holy God. He doesn't

change. Neither does his grace. But we do. We're

going to. You're going to. You're going to deal

with things in your heart, brothers and sisters.

You're going to go through difficult times. You're

going to have hardships. But don't use those

as opportunities. to sin against God. Use those

as opportunities to grow in godliness and holiness

and faithfulness, to see His faithfulness and

His goodness in your life. In those times, lean

into Christ. Don't pull away from Him. We must

recognize that true enjoyment of God must follow.

genuine repentance of sin. Take Psalm 51 .12

and insert it in the verse 1 of Psalm 51. Restore

to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me

with a willing spirit. What if that were the

first thing David asked in this psalm? What is

the first thing he sought out? The first thing

he pled for prior to repenting of his sin, confessing

his sin, asking for forgiveness, dealing with

his sin. It would be completely backwards. You

cannot enjoy God and salvation while you simultaneously

Revel and enjoy iniquity and sin. If you want

to enjoy God in Christ, if you want to enjoy

grace and mercy, if you want to enjoy those things

in your soul, in your heart, in your mind, you

must give up that sinful thing which you so truly

enjoy. You must forsake it. The reality is we

may have seasons and times in our lives because

of the fall and because of our fallenness and

the corruption within us that we just don't enjoy

God and Christ because of our fallenness. We

don't have to actively and willingly be in sin

to not enjoy God. But there's something broken

within us, brothers and sisters, because of sin.

Things are not what they ought to be all the

time. But the reality is, if you are actively

and willingly clinging to sin, you cannot enjoy

God with certainty. You will not have joy in

Christ. You will not be satisfied and you will

not be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ if

you are actively living in sin and you are refusing

to repent of it. You should not expect to enjoy

him. You should not expect to delight in Christ

because you are delighting and you are being

pleased with sin. So give up that which you enjoy

for something that's so much better. Give up

and lay down the fool's gold. And lay hold of

true riches in the Lord Jesus Christ. It will

be worth it. You will be satisfied and you will

be joyful and you will be hopeful and you will

have an assurance and you will have a confidence

in Christ that fool's gold cannot give you. It's

a lie. It doesn't do anything for you, even though

it sparkles. It's not worth it, brothers and

sisters. We must trust in Christ, knowing that

we can only enjoy salvation by faith in Him.

We cannot feast on the things of God if we are

not feasting on Christ by faith. Are you trusting

him in your life? Are you dependent on him and

him alone for all the saving realities in your

life? Because it's through him and it's by faith

that we can truly enjoy God himself and the things

of salvation.