Out of the Ashes (Psalm 51:1-6)
International Bible College required us students to participate in a door-knocking campaign every semester in order to graduate. Between my junior and senior years, I led a campaign at the congregation where my dad now preaches.
I and a friend knocked on a door and set up a Bible study with a young lady. During our study, the lady wished to be baptized. However, while teaching this lady it became painfully obvious that she was living with a man to whom she was not married—I can’t remember how that became obvious, but it did.
Well, I couldn’t very well baptize her unless she repented of that sin. Peter, after all, told the crowd at Pentecost to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. If she didn’t repent, I’d just be getting her wet and doing more harm than good.
I swallowed hard and discussed her sin, what repentance meant, and different ways she could repent of her sin. She told me she would sleep on the couch that night and she’d either marry him that week or move in with a friend. I then baptized her into Christ.
Her life was in ashes—marred by sin—but because of God’s great mercy, she could find forgiveness before God’s throne.
Hasn’t your life been in ashes, too? Don’t tell me you’ve never lain awake wetting your pillow with tears of remorse. You’ve surely had to swallow hard and apologize to someone for wrongdoing. Haven’t you committed sins that you’d be embarrassed for anyone else to know? How would you like it if I could look into your heart, and I started listing one-by-one your sins from the pulpit this morning?
David knew what that was like. David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then killed her husband to cover it up. But God knew precisely what the king had done, and the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to David to expose the king’s sin. David’s life was in ashes, and David did the only thing someone whose life is in ashes can do—he turned to God.
Psalm 51 is David’s penitent prayer after Nathan confronted him, and David made clear this truth: “God restores lives marred by sin.”
Scripture (Psalm 51:1-6)
verses 1-2:
David pleaded for God’s mercy according to his steadfast love. “Steadfast love” in the Hebrew Old Testament refers to God’s promise to be faithful to his covenant. David pleaded with God based on God’s promise; thus, David had all the confidence in the world that God would forgive, for God had promised to forgive.
David mentioned transgressions, iniquity, and sin. The king recognized that he had violated Yahweh’s perfect law and sinned against a holy God.
David also admitted that only God could cleanse him from his sin. He couldn’t be washed clean by Bathsheba or Uriah or Nathan; only God himself could do that.
verse 3:
David knew precisely what he had done to violate God’s will. In antiquity, most people didn’t have the foggiest idea why they had angered their gods. Disaster might befall them, and they’d see that calamity as divine punishment, but the people weren’t clear what precisely they had done to get on the gods’ bad side. In Babylonian literature, some prayers similar to David’s list multiple sins someone has committed in hopes that one of those is what had angered the god. Those gods were fickle and didn’t offer a consistent revelation of themselves (they, of course, didn’t even exist). Yahweh, however, is unchanging and has revealed a clear moral code.
verses 4-6:
David acknowledged that all sin is ultimately against God and a violation of his perfect character.
David felt so guilty that he used hyperbole to say that he had been a sinner all his life. David wasn’t being literal here. We might sometimes say, “I can’t do anything right”—David said the same thing in poetry.
Application
“God restores lives marred by sin.” David’s life had been reduced to ashes—he was embarrassed, he lost a child, and God promised him both a civil war and public humiliation. David knew what he needed to do—turn to God in repentance.
David provided guidance on how to repent. I don’t know where your heart is, but I know that as long as you live you’re going to sin, and you’re going to need to repent of that sin. How can you best repent of sin?
One: God
You need to acknowledge the same truths about Yahweh David expressed.
You must recognize God’s holiness.
David recognized he had violated God’s holy will and that God was right to pass judgment: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment” (Ps 51:4).
Understand God’s perfect holiness: “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 Jn 1:5). Because God himself is perfectly holy, every command he gives is perfectly holy: “The law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (Rom 7:12).
You must also recognize only God can save you.
You cannot save yourself. Your parents cannot save you, your reputation cannot save you, your church cannot save you. Only God can save you: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Eph 2:4-5). No matter how many good works you perform, how many times you worship, how often you pray, or how many millions you convert to Jesus, you will only be saved by God’s grace.
Two: Guilt
You must acknowledge your sins. David said, “I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” (Ps 51:3). He knew precisely what he had done to violate God’s holiness.
You must recognize what you have done to violate God’s holiness. I’ve greeted people who have responded to the invitation hymn, and they have said to me, “If I have sinned, I want the church’s prayers.” Well, either you have or you haven’t.
David owned his sin, and you must own your sin. “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Prov 28:13). “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9). You cannot confess your sins without naming specific sins.
What specific sins are in your life right now? What sins do you need to confess to God? What sins in your life require repentance?
Conclusion
“God restores lives marred by sin.” Do you need God to restore your life this morning? Is your life ashes and do you need something more? If you need God’s forgiveness, won’t you let us know as we stand and sing?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.