Romans 7:6
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
The phrase "old written code" sums up the dominant view of Christianity. It's and old, irrelavant set of rules for living which some people still choose to follow. Actually, it's the exact opposite. The message of Christianity is not a heavy burden but freedom. We serve God joyfully, empowered by the Holy Spirit, not under any old religious system bullying us into self-improvement.
Ephesians 2:4-5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he has loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved.
verses 1-3 paint a bleak picture BUT GOD...! Without God involved everything would be hopeless, but he is involved. He is not only involved but he is rich in mercy and great in love. And that love is shown towards us - the sons of disobedience, the children of wrath, the people dead in sin. If we don't understand verses 1-3 then verses 4 and 5 aren't a big deal. If we think we are essentially loveable, then God's love is nice but not great... why wouldn't he love me? But when we have felt the weight of the bad news of sin, we understand the greatness of his love, the gospel truly becomes good news.
We had not turned ourselves around for God to show thins mercy - we were dead, he made us alive. We have been saved by grace by a great Saviour - so much more than a crutch or a co-pilot!
Ephesians 2:1-3
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
This is serious. We were not following God - but following anyone and anything else. God was not God but we were our own god - disobediently living out OUR passions and OUR desires. We were spiritually dead and deserving of God's wrath. There is no one who has not been, or is not in, this situation. It's everyone - the world, the rest of mankind, we ALL once lived like this. This is a desperate situation, and I can't wait for the next verse to tell us what the solution is!
Ephesians 2:1-2
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked - following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit which is now at work in the sons of disobedience
Without Jesus, we were walking in sin, willfully walking away from God. We like to think of ourselves as independent but in our quest for "independence" from god we were actually just following others - following the world, following the devil. We were sons of disobedience, rebellion against God marked everything about us. But now, because of Jesus, we are god's sons!
Ephesians 2:1-2a
And you were dead in the the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.
Without Jesus, we are not just in need of a bit of assistance. We are in a much worse position than just a bit of room for improvement. We are dead men walking. Spiritually dead. "Absolutely void of all spiritual life, as incapable of quickening yourselves as persons literally dead" Wesley. Not just doing the odd thing wrong but willfully walking IN sin, dead IN trespasses. We are in serious need. We need serious help
Psalm 51:18-19
Do good to Zion in your good pleasure, build up the walls of Jerusalem; then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
David turns his attention to God's people. He recognises that he doesn't sin in isolation, it affects people and the effect is even greater considering his position.
After recognising earlier that the sacrificial system is pointless without a broken heart he now returns to it in the right way. this was a system designed by God to forgive sin, but not as a technicality. For those convicted and repentant, the sacrificial system was where they should go. For us, Jesus was the final, true, perfect sacrifice. He can forgive your sins, but not as a technicality, not as someone just reciting a prayer to take part in a transaction. It's free but it's not cheap, it cost Him His life. Repent and cry out to God for mercy - he will give it
psalm 51:16-17
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
God set up the sacrificial system, he told the people to do it, but he will not be pleased with people going through the motions if their heart is not in it
[8] “‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
[9] in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
(Matthew 15:8-9 ESV)
We need to be broken down before we can be lifted up. Without a devastating recognition of our own sin, we will never be able to fully appreciate the cross and the depths of God's love. Stop going through the religious motions. Consider your own sin. Then consider his great mercy.
Psalm 51:15
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise
Don't fall into the trap of thinking that we are doing God a favour by praising him. He is the one that puts the desire into our hearts, gives us the strength to open our mouth and the breath to sing his praise!
Psalm 51:14
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
We don't sing songs to and about God just because that's what Christians do. We sing because it expresses our joy that we have been saved. We have been delivered. Our lives deserve death, but Jesus blood was shed so that ours wont be!
Psalm 51:13
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you
David's thoughts to evangelism are linked to the previous verses. If God creates a clean heart in him, doesn't cast him from his presence and restores the joy of salvation, then he will tell others about God. This is not some sort of negotiation, but a recognition of the fact that our salvation naturally leads to our witness. Mission should flow from a place of joy, not a begrudging sense of duty. If we have no desire to tell others about God, we should look beyond the temporary solution of forcing ourselves to do it and ask ourselves if we have forgotton the gospel. When we realise we should be cast out but we aren't, when God hides his face from our sins and blots them out, when he creates a clean heart within us that leads to joy - and we naturally tell others about the things that bring us joy.
Psalm 51:12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
God's saving of us should not just bring relief but joy. Christians should be the most joyful people around as they are set free from the guilt and shame of their sin and welcomed into God's family. This is not something we have to work up in ourselves, but if we feel like it is lacking, we should join David in asking God to restore that joy to us. Asking Him to remind us of the great news of the gospel and give us a willing spirit to continue walking with him. the christian life is not begrudging submission but joyful obedience. Do you at least want to want that? Then join in David's prayer
Psalm 51:11
Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me
David knows that he deserves to be cast from God's presence. He deserves to have the Holy Spirit's anointing as king removed. He is not crying out for justice, he is crying out for mercy. We can be confident that we will not be cast away from God's presence because of the cross. Because Jesus was forsaken, we will not be.
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
David recognises that his problem runs deep. He needs more than forgiveness of sinful acts. He needs his heart to be transformed. Like David, we are powerless to change our own hearts. Maybe we can disicpline ourselves for a while to modify certain behaviour, but if the sinful desires remain in the heart then it's only a matter of time until we fail or it manifests itself in a different way. We need God to change our heart. the good news is that he can and will. the gospel is not that we receive forgiveness and then have to do a better job next time. We receive the Holy Spirit who empowers us to change
Proverbs 20:9
Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”?
No one.
But...
Ezekiel 36:26-27
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Psalm 51:9
Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
In the previous verse, David is asking God to restore joy and gladness to him. How is that going to be possible with David's guilt and shame over his sin? It can happen if God blots out his iniquities and hides his face from his sins.
The image of God hiding his face is usually seen as a bad thing throughout the bible - God hiding his face from people who have rebelled against him (eg Deuteronomy 31:17-18, Jeremiah 33:5, Micah 3:4). In other psalms the writer cries out that God has hidden his face because He seems absent (Psalm 13:1, 27:9, 69:17). So why would David ask God to hide his face from him now? How can God hide his face from our sin, without hiding his face from us as well. The reason is Jesus who became like one from whom people hide their faces (Isaiah 53:3) and who did not hide his face from mocking and spitting (Isaiah 50:6).
The idea of blotting out is permanent removal. When we consider our sin and are convicted, how can that possibly result in joy and gladness? Because of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, which means that our sin is permanently removed, God has hidden His face from it, but not from us.
Psalm 51:8
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice
Hang on. The bones that YOU have broken. God is responsible for David's overwhelming conviction, grief, sorrow and shame over his sin. How is that good news? If God had just left him alone, David would have been able to justify to himself what he had done. Now he feels terrible.
True joy and gladness is never going to be found by suppressing our guilt, by trying to cover over our sin and shame. We might be able to dull our senses and harden our hearts to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, but that is not going to take away the problem. Shoving sin deeper within ourselves does not get rid of it. The good news is God can get rid of it. We can be clean. That's the good news. Breaking the hand that clings onto something that leads to death is the most loving thing to do. And God loves us, so he will not shy away from breaking a few bones if that is what we need to find our way to his mercy.
Psalm 51:6
Behold you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
We are interested in the outside. In the Bathsheba incident, David took care of matters so that everything looked ok on the outside. But God is interested in the inward being, the secret heart. He knows our desires, motivations and thoughts. We should pray that God will convict us of sin that is beneath the surface and ask Him to transform us from the inside out.
