Psalm 51:7-8

Psalm 51, we're going to read verses 7 and 8.

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. Our verse deals in verse

8. where our exposition will focus today in verse

8, it deals primarily with joy. You'll notice

that it uses the term joy and gladness, and then

in the latter half of the verse it says rejoice.

So it has to do with joy, gladness. rejoicing

or praising or worshiping. This is something

David is petitioning God for in his life. Now,

when we think about joy and gladness and rejoicing,

it is difficult to define what joy is exactly,

even biblically. Is it an emotion? Is it a feeling?

Is it an affection? Is it a virtue? Is it all

of those things? What exactly is it? But I think

we can narrow it down and we could call joy,

gladness, rejoicing, we could call it this, true

happiness. True happiness of soul. True happiness

of heart. Not a fleeting, Happiness based on

this world, the circumstances of this world.

Not a temporary or superficial happiness which

comes and goes on the whims of our affections,

but something that stays. Something that's meaningful.

A true happiness that we can possess and we can

experience in the midst of any circumstance and

in the midst of every circumstance. So I think

when we think about joy, gladness, and rejoicing,

we should think in terms of true happiness. There

are a lot of unhappy folks in the world, aren't

there? There are a lot of unhappy Christians,

brothers and sisters. There's a lot of people

that never express. Joy. There's a lot of people

that haven't rejoiced for many, many years. There's

a lot of people that you would never know were

experiencing gladness within their hearts and

within their souls, and they are legitimately

and truly regenerate. Why is that? can it be

that there are so many unhappy Christians? How

can it be that there's so many people who know

the risen Lord Jesus Christ, who have his blood

covering their life and their soul and their

sins, and be unhappy and miserable? Today we

find that David is experiencing this in his life.

David is legitimately an unhappy man at this

period in his life. That is evident in Psalm

51. He's unhappy in his soul. He's unhappy in

his emotions. He's unhappy in his feelings. He's

unhappy spiritually in his relationship with

the Lord. And today we find that he's appealing

to God for joy. for gladness, that he would rejoice

and praise God. So today, as we look at this

text, we need to understand how it's broken down,

how it relates to joy and gladness, true happiness.

So verse 8 is really divided into two parts.

The first part is the first line. The second

part is the second line. And the first part we

see David making a petition. Make me to hear

joy and gladness. In the second part of verse

8, we find that he's really looking for the desired

result or the desired outcome, the change. That's

the result of God making him experience joy and

gladness. He wants God. to make him to hear joy

and gladness, and as a result, to rejoice instead

of being in anguish and sorrow. He's wanting

to experience a change. But it's also important

that we understand in this text, we can't separate

it from its surrounding context. This is not

an independent truth separate from what comes

before it and separate from what comes behind

it. That's a very important principle when we

study the Word of God. We have to take in the

immediate context, the surrounding context, the

context of the book, and then the context of

the whole of Scripture, brothers and sisters,

to see how it fits in to that storyline, into

that narrative, into those ideas, into those

principles. So we can't separate it from verse

7, and we can't separate it from verse 9. Verse

7 says, Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be

clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Verse 9 says, Hide your face from my sins, and

blot out all my iniquities. Verse 7 we spent

time on several weeks ago. It's David appealing

to God as his heavenly high priest. desiring

to be washed and cleansed, desiring to be purified

with reference to the hyssop, making reference

to sacrifice and blood, which ultimately we know

is the sacrifice and blood of Christ, and he's

appealing to Christ as his great high priest.

And then in verse 7, or verse 9, We find him

appealing to God to hide his face from his sins

and to blot out his iniquities. He's appealing

to God not to treat him in accordance with his

sins, not to act toward David as he deserves

because of his sins. He's acting, he's crying

out, and he's appealing for justification and

external righteousness for himself. That God

would treat him in some other way than which

he deserves. And that God wouldn't treat him

with reference to his own iniquities and his

own sins. That's the surrounding context. So

there's two things in this text that we need

to consider. Following these two items, we'll

have several applications. The first is the change

sought. This is the second part of verse 8. Let

the bones which you have broken rejoice. Now

when we consider this phrase, let the bones which

you have broken rejoice, we have to understand

that David's bones were not literally broken.

Every bone in his body was not crushed. He's

using a figure of speech. To convey certain truths

and certain realities regarding his situation,

his experience, and what's taking place in the

life of his heart and the life of his soul. So

what is this figure of speech that David is using

conveying to the reader? Conveying to us. It's

conveying his brokenness. It's conveying the

fact that he is crushed in spirit. It's conveying

the fact that his soul is as though a hammer

has come to it and shattered it into a thousand

pieces. Now what do broken bones do? What do

they communicate to the rest of the body? Pain.

Misery. discomfort, heartache, and uncomfortableness,

anguish, affliction, and suffering. This is what

is taking place in David's soul. He's in anguish.

He's afflicted. He's in pain. It's as though

his bones are broken. He can't shake it. He can't

get rid of it. And bones take a long time to

heal. He can't get back to what he wants to be.

His soul is continually afflicted. It's continually

in discomfort. It's continually hurting and pain.

But why? What is the source of this brokenness

that David is experiencing in his soul? What

is it that has broken his bones? Well, I think

there's two sources for this. There's an initial

cause, and we're all aware of what that is. That

is his sin and his corruption. It is his transgressions

of God's law that has brought this misery into

his own soul. His breaking of God's law and the

corruption within him, the heightened sense and

experience of corruption within his heart, because

of his volitional transgression of God's law

for an extended period of time, is what has broken

him, is what brought him to a place where he

feels crushed. This uncovers a lie for us. That's

so prevalent in the world, the flesh, and the

devil. Doesn't it? This reveals a lie that is

so prevalent in our society, in our culture.

It reveals to us a lie that is so prevalent that

we see it all the time. What's the lie? The lie

is this. If you like it, if you want it, If you

enjoy it, take it, and that will make you happy.

Doesn't the world tell us that? Doesn't the world,

the flesh, and the devil tell us that all the

time? That if you enjoy it, if it pleases you,

then take it, and that will introduce... ultimate

happiness into your life. Does your flesh not

tell you that, brothers and sisters? Does the

devil not whisper that in your ear at times?

Do you not hear that from the television? Do

you not see that in the world? Oh, brothers and

sisters, if you don't see that, it is there and

it is prevalent. It is everywhere. So that's

a lie. Why is it a lie? Because if it is sin,

if it is a transgression of God's law, it will

not introduce and bring about true happiness

and joy and gladness and rejoicing into your

life. What will it do? What will it bring about?

A broken spirit. It will crush your soul under

its weight. David tested this out, didn't he?

And actually his son Solomon did as well, to

a great degree. How did David test out this theory

with regards to this lie of the world, the flesh,

and the devil? David saw Bathsheba. He longed

for Bathsheba. He wanted Bathsheba. He took Bathsheba.

Did it. bring about joy, gladness, and rejoicing

in his life? No, it did not. It brought about

the words that we read today, let the bones which

you have broken rejoice. It resulted in... His

brokenness, his pain, his misery, and his anguish.

That's the initial cause of his sin and his transgression.

But what's the ultimate cause of David's anguish?

His heartache that he can't get rid of. Well,

the text says that David's bones are broken and

it gives us this state and condition of David

with reference to God, doesn't it? And how does

it relate God to David and his broken bones?

It says, let the bones which you have broken

rejoice. It's attributing the crushing, the breaking

of David's bones to God. Now, why is it doing

that? Because ultimately, the ultimate cause

for David's anguish, his heartache, his pain,

and his misery is the conscious. and the conscious

knowledge that was awakened when Nathan the prophet

came to him through the word of the Lord, that

God is displeased with him. It's the reality

that his good, faithful, and mighty God is unhappy

with David. That is what is casting him down

into the dust, brothers and sisters. The conscious

knowledge that God doesn't approve and God is

not pleased with his behavior. That God is unhappy

and God is frowning upon David and his lust.

Upon David and his adultery. Upon David and his

unrepentant sin. That is why he has such a sense

of heartache and crushed spirit. How can he experience

joy and gladness? How can he rejoice in his soul

when God is displeased with his very actions

in his very life? Will God bless his soul? Will

the Spirit of God increase the virtue of holiness?

Will the Spirit of God increase the virtue of

joy and peace? and love in one's life, he was

willingly sinning against God? When one refuses

to repent, and they continue willingly laying

hold of that sin which God is displeased with,

how can the Christian soul, the saintly soul,

as David, continue in sin when they know God

is displeased with their sin? This is why Christians

cannot indefinitely continue in sin. This is

why Christians cannot indefinitely and perpetually

go and go and go and go and go and keep on and

keep on and keep on in volitional, willful, unrepentant

sin. Because that Christian knows that God is

being grieved, that he is mourning over their

wickedness. The child of God, ultimately, has

a longing and a desire that's implanted within

them through regeneration and the indwelling

Spirit of God to please their Heavenly Father.

The Christian cannot and will not indefinitely

continue in sin because they know their heavenly

father is displeased with them. So David obviously

is not experiencing a great deal of joy and gladness

within his heart, is he? And we know why. We

know the cause of it. We know the source of his

brokenness. Now, what does he want to experience?

We know what he wants to be brought out of, don't

we? This anguish, this sorrow, this distress,

this brokenness. He wants to come out of this,

but what does he want to experience? What does

he want to be changed? What's the experience

he wants to be changed into? Well, the text says,

That he wants the same bones which are broken,

the same bones which are crushed, he wants those

bones to sing with joy. Look in the text. It

says, let the bones which you have broken rejoice.

He wants the bones to rejoice, doesn't he? That

which is so broken, he wants that same thing.

to experience the heights of joy and adoration

and praise of God. Now how in the world can David

possibly pray such a prayer? How can David pray

such a thing? This man who has done such... Such

things and such sins. How can this man pray such

a prayer that he's so broken that he can pray?

I want to jump with joy, Lord. I want to rejoice.

I want to praise you. I want to glorify you.

I want my heart to be involved in it. I want

my whole being to rejoice. How is it that he

can pray such a thing? Well, it's because of

verse 7. It's because of verse 7. This leads

us to the second thing we have to consider this

morning. The petition made the first part of

verse 8. David can pray such a prayer because

of his confidence in God's cleansing of him.

David can pray such a prayer. A bold prayer,

we might say, because he's so confident in the

reality when he says, I shall be whiter than

snow. When he says, I shall be clean in verse

7. He's so confident in God's cleansing and purification,

his work, his actions toward him. With reference

to hyssop, with reference to the blood, with

reference to the sacrifice that he can ask, he

can pray, he can plead, he can appeal and petition.

Make me to hear joy and gladness. He can cry

out for such a change in his life and his soul

and his state and his own experience because

he knows. The purifying power of the Spirit of

God at work in his life. Because he's so confident

in God's treatment of him with reference to the

hyssop and the sacrifice and the blood that he

will be declared clean. So we see that David

is passive. this petition in the first part of

verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness. He's

not wanting to do it himself. The text could

be read literally, which says, cause me to hear

joy and gladness. How is it in this text that

God is the active cause? of David's experience

of joy in his life. It's because the effect,

which is not mentioned in verse 7, is mentioned

in verse 8. What's the effect of being made whiter

than snow, brothers and sisters? What's the effect

of purification with hyssop? What's the effect

when God purifies and cleanses his people? Great

joy. You see, David wants God himself to cause

him to experience joy in his life. It's God's

treatment of David as his high priest. If you

recall, when we looked at verse 7, we considered

how David was looking to God as his heavenly

priest to administer the true substance and the

true meaning of this sacrifice with regards to

hyssop and the blood. So David is looking to

God as his priest. And ultimately we know That

this is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ

as the great high priest who ministers to his

people through his spirit. And it's through his

ministry to his people that he produces joy and

gladness and rejoicing in their life. David petitions,

To hear joy and gladness. Notice that word in

verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness. He

wants to hear a new message, we could say. What

has he been hearing up to this point? Judgment.

Condemnation. Discipline. Fearfulness. He wants

to hear a new song. He wants to hear a song of

rejoicing, a song of hope. He wants to hear a

song of grace, a song of mercy, a song of compassion.

He wants a word of assurance regarding the forgiveness

of sins in his life. And where is he looking

to for this? He's looking to God's treatment

of him and the hyssop. He's looking to God in

the hyssop for joy and for a word of assurance,

and he wants to hear it. This means that joy

and other virtues and characteristics like it

play a unique role in the restoration and renewal

of penitent sinners. What does that mean? How

does joy play a unique role in the restoration

of someone who repents? What does it mean to

experience joy? Where does joy come from? Why

is it significant? Why is it important when we

turn to God, we repent of our sins, and we trust

in Christ as believers? And we desire and we

long to walk in fellowship and communion with

him. And we desire and we long to walk in holiness

and godliness. What does joy have to do with

it? David knows that there are experiential realities

that a person experiences in their heart as a

result of Christ's priestly ministry in their

life. And joy is one of those things. So joy

and other virtues like it are tokens of God's

continual work in your life. Brothers and sisters

are you experiencing joy? If you're experiencing

joy and it's increasing and it's growing and

it's developing and it's maturing and you know

it's there, it's obvious, then that means you're

living a holy and a godly life because the Spirit

of God is increasing those things in your life.

That's what joy means. It's assurance of faith.

It's assurance of the reality of the active presence

and influence of the divine spirit at work in

your very soul. But if joy is not present. If

you are habitually unhappy. If you are habitually

not. or not at peace, then ask yourself the question,

why is there no joy in my life? What's happening

in my soul? What am I doing? What am I saying?

How am I treating? What am I not doing? How am

I breaking the law of God? What do I need to

repent of? What sin do I need to turn away from?

What sin do I need to forsake to be restored?

What sin do I need to abandon in my life that

I might experience the heights of joy yet again

in my own soul? Do you want to experience joy?

Do you want to experience peace? And gladness,

do you want true happiness and contentment in

your heart regardless of what's taking place?

Then ask yourself, brothers and sisters, there

are many other causes and sources. This is just

one of many. This is not the only reason that

someone might not lack joy. But within the context

of this message, ask yourself, is there sin?

in my life that I'm not repenting of, that is

grieving the Spirit of God, and thus I'm not

experiencing joy as I ought to be. Joy is a token,

it's a sign, we could say, of good, holy fellowship

with God. It's a sign of true repentance in one's

life. It's an urgent question. We all should

consider it. Let me offer you several applications

with regards to this text. We learn of the relationship

between true happiness and holiness, don't we?

Is there a relationship between holiness, godliness,

and true happiness in someone's life? This text

tells us there is. Why do you talk about holiness

and godliness so much? Why do you emphasize the

pursuit of mortification in your life? The killing,

the weakening, the removal of strength of sin

and transgression, of corruption and the remnant

of sin that remains within you. Why do you put

on Jesus Christ? Why do you make no provision

for the flesh with regards to its lusts? What's

the purpose of this? Why is obedience and doing

the will of God so happy personally in our lives,

brothers and sisters? Because... there's a correlation

between holiness and true happiness in this life.

We learn also then that there's a correlation

between unholiness and unhappiness. Are you truly

a happy individual? joy, gladness, and rejoicing.

Or does it appear as though bitterness, anger,

a short temper, foul mood, ongoing frustration

dominate your life all the time? Then consider

that there's a correlation between Holiness and

true happiness. I'm not going to point out what

those things might be, but there is a correlation,

brothers and sisters. It is God's will for our

life to pursue holiness and godliness according

to the scriptures in relation to Christ. In the

context of fellowship and community. He those

who honor the pursuit of godliness and holiness

by blessing them with joy, by the Spirit of God

increasing the fruit of the Spirit in their life.

We learn of the relationship between true happiness

and repentance. When we consider this text, we

have to recognize that David petitions for joy

at the appropriate time, does he not? He doesn't

open up Psalm 51 with an appeal and petition

for joy, gladness, and rejoicing. No, it's important

to recognize that he makes an appeal, he petitions

for joy, for true happiness in his heart and

his soul following True repentance. So what clears

the way, we could say? What ushers in true joy,

true happiness in one's life? True repentance.

Are you unhappy, brothers and sisters? Maybe

it's because you're unhappy. Repentant in some

area. Is there sin you need to forsake and give

up that you're unwilling to let go of? Truly

happy people are people who repent of sin and

trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. True joy is rooted

and grounded in repentance. Toward God and faith

in the Lord Jesus Christ as our great and mighty

prophet, priest, and king. I want you to be truly

happy. That's why we have Psalm 51, brothers

and sisters. God gives us Psalm 51. So that we

know how to come out of our sorrow to the heights

of joy. He gives us Psalm 51 so that you can

be truly happy in your life. So that you're not

a miserable Christian. Listen to the word of

God and truly consider this. Don't be hard hearted.

Don't reject this because you think it sounds

dogmatic or pharisaical. But hear the word of

God. Consider your life and your sin. Is there

things in your life you need to repent of? Brothers

and sisters, repent of them so that you can be

joyful and happy and gladness and filled with

heart. filled with gladness of heart. It's for

your good. It's for the good of your family.

It's for the good of your children. It's for

the good of your church. This isn't to be mean

and harsh. It's for your good and for your godliness

and for your holiness. It's for the edification

and strengthening. of the body of Christ. We

learn of the relationship between true happiness

and the word of God. In God's providence and

in his sovereignty and giving us the scriptures,

we read in verse 8, make me to hear joy and gladness.

I'm sure in the back of David's mind he's thinking

of the Torah, he's thinking of the law of God,

he's thinking of the reading of God's law, the

announcement of God's law. We know that the only

place we can go to find a word of assurance with

regards to the forgiveness of sins with regards

to the sacrifice of Christ, with regards to the

hope of our Lord and our Savior, is the blessed

word of God. True happiness is experienced by

those who read their Bibles, who study their

Bibles. who meditate and take in the scriptures.

True happiness of heart and of soul, of life,

true joy is not experienced apart from the word

of God, brothers and sisters. Truly happy people

are people who spend time in God's divine self.

revelation in the holy word of God that he's

given to his people. There's no other book like

it. There's no other written source like the

word of God. No other book can stand next to

it. How much time and how much energy do you

pour into reading other things that have no benefit

on your heart and upon your soul? that will strip

you and take away your joy. Yet if you would

give time to reading the Word of God, to studying

the Word of God, to meditating on the Word of

God, to memorizing the Word of God and considering

it, oh, the joy you would experience in your

soul on a continual basis. Truly happy people.

are people of the book, people of the word of

God. They have given themselves to God's divine

revelation. Is that you, Christians, do you claim

to be rejoicing that you haven't picked up the

word of God in months? Brothers and sisters,

it is meant for your good, for your soul. God

has given us his word to know him better, to

know the revealed will of God, how to live our

lives, how to pursue godliness and holiness,

how to walk in fellowship with him. The only

place we're going to receive a word of assurance,

a word of grace, and a word of compassion, a

word concerning Christ is in his word. Go to

it. Find joy in its words, in its pages. Turn

the page, read more, and get more joy. We learn

of the relationship between true happiness and

prayer. We have to remember that Psalm 51 is

all in the context of prayer. It's all in the

context of David praying to God. He's seeking

out the face of God in prayer. Thus, he is seeking

out joy in and through the act of prayer. One

of the vital means. of being truly happy in this

fallen and sinful world, brothers and sisters,

is spending time with God in prayer. Truly happy

people are those who pray to God. They seek out

his face. They're humbled. They recognize his

glory. They talk to him as he talks to them in

his word. They commune and fellowship with their

God. This delights the soul of the believer in

which the Spirit of God dwells. This brings joy

to the Spirit of God, brothers and sisters, when

we fellowship with God. Will he withhold peace

and joy from those who regularly seek the face

of God? No, he will be generous and give it in

abundance. Truly happy people. Pray to God. Lastly,

we learn a superficial. These are all in the

context of being a justified man, woman, or young

person. True joy is the possession of those who

know Christ through faith and repentance. Yes,

we can have a superficial, temporary, fleeting

joy that we get from things in this world. Maybe

relationships. Maybe experiences. Maybe some

sort of pleasure. Maybe some other area or some

other way. Maybe discussions. Maybe wives and

children. Maybe a husband or a career or a job.

Yes, these things will bring you little bitty

tastes of joy. But it goes away really, really

fast. And then you need another fix. It never

lasts. It never stays. It comes and it goes.

It's always fleeting. It's superficial. It's

false joy. It doesn't actually make the soul

glad. What it does is it makes the soul hungrier

and hungrier for more superficial happiness and

more superficial joy. But it cannot satisfy.

The reality is, those who put their faith in

the Lord Jesus Christ, and they repent of their

sins, and they're in union with Christ and God

through Christ, those people will be in possession

of true, lasting, eternal happiness. But you

cast off and you refuse all of that as you cast

off and you refuse Christ and his good grace.

As you reject Christ, you reject true happiness.

True joy. Christ is of greater value. And greater

worth. And it is a greater joy to serve him as

master than anything else on this planet. Than

anything else in this world. So the call is the

trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, his life and

his death and his resurrection. That his spirit

might dwell within you and manifest. true joy.