True Repentance vs. False Excuses Week 21

We are in the book of We're in Psalms. And um if you need a lesson, you can get it from Ricky here in the auditorium. And uh if you're watching online, you can download it at ohana.urch/live and it should be on there. And uh and and so taking a look, we're going to go through Psalm 51. Now, I know you've already talked about Psalm 51, but I wanted to cover my own lesson as well because it's one of my favorite Psalms uh to go through and just some it's just been a real encouragement to me in my walk with the Lord as I have had challenges and occasions where um not been where I need to be spiritually.

Uh why was Psalm 51 written? This is David's confession uh probably after his sin with Basheba and uh 2 Samuel chapter 11 and 12 is where that sin happened. You remember he committed adultery. He had her husband murdered. He was confronted by Na Nathaniel and and Nathan just said you're the man and uh he he confessed. He dealt with it. Uh we are going to mess up. That's part of the human nature and and sadly so. But when we mess up, we need to get it right with the Lord. And and as I look at this, what encourages me, if God could forgive David, then God can forgive me. And and so it's a passage that really uh resonates, and I believe it ought to be one that for you is a passage that is is read quite often because we have to confess and we do.

You can go back to Psalm 51 and make it your own personal prayer as well. And uh turn to 1 Corinthians chap 10 and look at verse number 6. 1 Corinthians chap 10 and verse number 6. The Bible says, "Now these things were were were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after things as they also lusted." And so David's psalm here, David's confession is an example to us. First of all, that we we would not sin. First John, uh, God says in chapter two that he wrote it that we would sin not, but if we sin, we have an advocate with the father. And so God's first goal is that we would not sin.

And we can learn from David's sin, some of the mistakes that he made at the time that kings were going into battle, he stayed home. You know, you've often heard the statement, uh, an idol mind is the devil's workshop. And when you're not doing the things you should be doing, then you're more open to be tempted to do things you should not be doing. And that was David's first mistake is not going and doing what he as the king was supposed to be doing. And and so he fell into sin because of that. And then we know from the story that he was up on the rooftop looking around and and um he saw Basheba uh bathing on her rooftop.

And and we got to be careful where we look and we got to be careful with our eyes to what the Lord told him to do. He just he just kept the best of the sheep and the cattle. But David, he committed two terrible sins, adultery and murder. And you and I from our perspective say, well, you know, why would David who committed the worst sins be forgiven and Saul not? And sometimes we like to categorize our sins. Well, this is worse than the other one. And and that we use that to justify ourselves. Well, I'm not as bad as so and so. What I did wasn't as bad as it's not like I hurt anybody. I just looked at this or I just did, you know, and and we justify our sin because we say it's not as bad as somebody else's sin.

But in God's sight, sin is sin. And when you don't obey God completely, you are not being obedient. You see, if I tell one of my grandkids, you need to go do this, this, and this, and they do the first two, but not the third. They're not being obedient. Well, I did the first thing two things, but you didn't do everything I told you. And and and he wasn't being obedient. And so, we have to be careful that we don't categorize our sin and say, well, this isn't so bad. So, I that's okay over this other one. God forgave David, but did not forgive Saul, even though David's sin was worse than that Saul.

Now there are different consequences to sin. That's the other thing we need to understand is that sin does have consequences and there are different consequences. You go out and get drunk and drive and have an accident. The consequence can be very very terrible. You can die, someone you love can die or you can kill somebody else, be thrown in jail. All kinds of consequence that. And there's other sins that don't have as great a consequence. You go out and just drink and get drunk but don't drive. Uh it may not be as bad a consequence but still sin. And we have to understand that. And so we have we we're dealing with both forgiveness and consequences.

David was forgiven of a sin, but he still had to suffer the consequences of it. He lost his children. He lost his kingdom for a while. Uh there was a number of prices that he paid for that. The baby that was conceived would died. Uh there's consequences. When God forgives us, he doesn't always take away the consequences. And that's what we have to also understand. But so David's sin was worse than than Saul's. And then look at their response in 1st Samuel chapter 15 and verse number 20. 1st Samuel 15:20. And Saul said unto Samuel, "Yay, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone the way which the Lord sent me and brought Aag the king of Amalcch and and have uttered destroy the Amalocites."

He was supposed to destroy everything and but he saved the king and that was out of his pride because you got here's this king I conquered and that was out of his pride. He saved the best of the cattle and the sheep and uh because he wanted the the the benefit of those resources and he but he did not fully obey God and and the thing is is is day Samuel's response was to justify himself. He first thing he did is he blamed everybody else. Look at 1st Samuel 15 verse number 15. And Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amocites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest were utterly destroyed."

The people spared him. And then go down to verse 21, he says, "But the people took of the spoil, sheep, and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice in the Lord God in Gilgal." And then verse 24. And Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned for I transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice." So what's he do? He blames the people. Well, they made me do it. And so often that's what we do with our sin is we want to blame somebody else. Well, they made me do it. You know, I got I I I got angry because the way they acted towards me or I did this and and we want to blame everybody else instead of ourselves to take responsibility.

And and that's what Saul did is he blamed everybody else. He blamed the people instead of taking responsibility. And uh and in verse 24, he it sounds like a a great confession. He says, "I have transgressed the command of the Lord, thy words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice." He he did the confession, but he added a butt at the end. He added an excuse at the end instead of taking full responsibility. I did it. Yeah, sure, there's circumstances. you get around the wrong crowd, but you chose to get around the wrong wrong crowd. There's circumstances that can lead you to to sinning, but you still have that choice to make.

And that's what Saul did not do. And because of that, he tried to justify himself by blaming others. But not only did he blame others, but look at verse 21 again. But the people took of the spoil, sheep, and oxen, the chief of the which is should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord thy God and Gilgal. He blamed God. Well, I really did this for the Lord and he tried to spiritualize his sin and and he blamed God. And and that's what often we do as well. We spiritualize our sin. You know, I'm dating this unsaved guy because I'm going to help him get to see him. I want to see him get saved.

See, we're we're spiritualizing doing wrong, being unequally yolked together. And you know, I'm going to the bar because I want to be I want to be with my friends to be an example for them of Christianity. and uh and we spiritualize our sin and we we blame God for what we did and you well God made me this way or whatever else it might be and and and that's what Saul did. He justified himself. He blamed God. He blamed others instead of just saying you know what I did it. And but David blamed himself in Psalms chapter 51 and verses one two and three. Psalms 51:es 2 and three, he says, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is ever before me. I did this. I see it. I'm not trying to hide it. I'm not trying to cover it. It's right there out in front of me. This is what I did. What I did was wrong." He took the full responsibility for that. Um, he admitted that he had hurt others. Look at Psalms 51:13. We're right there. Then will I treat teachers thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Before you know he confessed, his testimony was written. Before he confessed, all the people, the people knew what was going on. He wasn't hiding it. We think we're hiding our sin, but we're not.

And his testimony is ruined. He was ruining the testimony of the Lord. In fact, when Nathan confronted him, go back to um uh 1st Samuel chapter uh 12. 1st Samuel chapter 12. I'm sorry, 2 Samuel 12. This should be 2 Samuel 12. Okay, let me get back there. 2 Samuel chapter 12 and verse number right place. Verse number 16. 2 Samuel 12:16. I'll get to the right place here. David therefore besought God for the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth. He I'm sorry, I've jumped ahead of myself here. Let's get back to where I need to be. Um, yeah, David, David had blamed himself and he admit it hurt others.

The child was going to die because of David's and Bashibba's sin. And David just got down on his knees and he said, "Listen, it's my fault. It's not the child's fault." He took that responsibility. He realized that his sin had affected his children and and his baby. And he took responsibility for it. admitted heard others and he heard God's testimony and he repented towards God. Look at chapter 12 and verse number 13. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unheath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not sin. So what David did, he he admitted that he had sinned against God.

He repented towards God. What I did was wrong. Now when Nathan confronted him, he said, "Listen, you what you did hurt the testimony of the Lord." It heard God's testimony in the world today in your in your kingdom. And but he but he took responsibility, repented towards God. Look at Psalm chapter 51 and verse number four. Psalms 51 verse number four. Against thee the only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgeest. He said, "Listen, what I did was wrong." He took full responsibility. It's interesting. I I think there are 13 more than no 18 uses of the pronoun, personal pronoun in Psalm 51.

I, me, it wasn't my sin. He took full responsibility. Did not blame it on anybody else. Did not blame it on God. Did not try to spiritualize it. He took responsibility. Said, "What I did was wrong and what I did was a sin against God." And that's what we have to see that it's a sin against God. And so he repented towards God. Now the next thing is their judgment in 1st Samuel chapter 15. So turn over there. 1st Samuel chapter 15 and verses 22 and 23. And Samuel said hath the Lord his great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices and obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is iniquity and adultery, because thou has rejected the word of the Lord. He hath also rejected thee from being king. So here here what's happens is their judgment. Saul is rejected. Now notice though, his judgment didn't happen immediately. He didn't lose his kingship right there in the spot. It came later, but it was going to come. Sometimes what what some of the challenges is when when we don't face the consequences of our sins immediately and so we kind of think well I got away with that it's okay and then we then we continue in that sin and and and and so that's what happens quite often uh but this he was judged here now it's important also notice this was not the first time this very similar incident happened back in 1st Samuel chapter 13 so this wasn't the first time and and so it just got to the point, you know, this is this happened over and over again.

You're not dealing with it. You've been confronted before on this. You've been confronted again on it. You're blaming everybody else. You're blaming God instead of saying, you know what, I did this and I was wrong. And that's a lesson for you and I to learn is that when we don't take responsibility, then we suffer the consequences. We suffer the judgment. And then um not only that, but David in in 2 Samuel 12 and:es 10-2, it says, "Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou was to despise me, and has taken the wife of Uriah the Hitittite to be thy wife. Thus sayith the Lord, behold, I will raise up raise up evil against thee, out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbors, and ye shall tie lie with thy wives in the sight of the of the son.

And then verse number 14, how be it, because by this deed, thou has given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blasphe, the child also is born unto thee shall surely die. So he he paid the consequences. And again, I want to emphasize this. We can confess and God is so faithful to forgive us and to show his mercy and to show his grace, but that doesn't mean he always takes away the consequences. There are times that God chooses not to make us suffer the consequences of our sin. And and and and that is only by the grace of God. And um but don't see that as oh that is okay what I did because you're going to pay a price.

And David did. Even though he confessed, he paid a price. He lost his family, his children. He he lost the kingdom. Uh he suffered greatly for that. The baby was the baby died. Uh he paid a very high price. Galatians 6:7, "Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man sew it, that shall you also reap." And and you cannot sew your wild oats and pray for a harvest to die. You're you're gonna you're gonna pay the price. And um you know, I gonna have a crop failure. So, we have to understand that you there is a price to pay for sin. God says, "I'd rather I I I I'm writing to you so you sin not.

But if you sin, I have mercy and I have grace. I'm thankful for that if you confess your sin, but don't sin because it's not worth it." And that's what David is saying here. And then look at their response. And this is really key to understanding why one was forgiven, the other was not. Um, in in 1st Samuel 15, David's response or Saul's response, I'm sorry, in verses 25- 27, it says, "Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord." And again, that sounds so good. It sounds so good, but it wasn't coming from the heart. It wasn't coming from true repentance.

It was coming from, I don't want people to think bad of me. And look at verse 26. And Samuel said unto Saul, "I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel." And uh and and Samuel turned away to go away. He he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. Then look at verse 30. Then he said, "I have sinned, yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord thy God." You see, he was more worried about what are people going to think than he was about getting right with God.

He he got very emotional uh but not for himself, not because of his sin. So, the first thing we see here is is that Saul admitted to at least to one sin and that's all he admitted to. And Saul said to Samuel, "I've sinned for I transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice." All he admitted to is what he was caught on. I was principal of Christian school for many years and we we had a system. Some of you may know about the PACE system and you they had workbooks where the kids would work on workbooks at their desk and then they would have to uh put up a flag to get permission to go and check their own answers at the answer desk.

And then they would go back to their desk. They would when they got there they would put a X in their wrong answers and they would go back to their desk and circle the X's and then go back and check their answer. When they check their answers they could circle and show it was right. So the exit was wrong. Got to go back to your desk, correct it, and then go back up and check it again and circle if it was correct. And it was it was kind of an honor system on that. But we did check up on him as well. And I remember we had one kid that was uh we we checked up on him and found that he was he was doing this quite often where he's cheating.

And um and so I called him my office and I had the stack of the workbooks next to my desk. It was probably over a dozen of them that he had cheated in where he had done the X and circled it and not corrected the answers and and just not followed the rules at all. And and so I I sat him down across me. I said, "Uh, have you been cheating?" And he said, 'N no sir.' He very respectful in the way he talked at that point. No, sir. I said, 'You sure? He said, 'Yes, sir.' And then I pulled up one of the workbooks. I said, 'Well, what about this? Oh, yeah. That time I did wrong. And then I said, "Well, is this the only time?"

He says, "Yes, sir." I pulled another one up. So, what about this? And I, you know, I went to that whole stack and he never admitted to anything more than he thought I knew. And that's not repentance. You see, repentance is I did wrong and I'm not here to cover it up. I'm not here to I I I we ought to care what other people think, but that's not what's most important. I need to get this right. We had a another girl in our uh in the in the school there and she was a very very smart girl. uh she did very well on her all of her studies and everything and uh and she was working hard to get ahead because you could do that in that system and uh and so one day she was correcting something and uh up to at the the desk correcting it and what the procedure was you were supposed to put a red X and then go back to your desk, find the right answer, change it and then go back up and circle it.

And when she got up there she saw that she had the wrong answer. She knew immediately why. Oh, I just marked that wrong. And she knew what the right answer was. She had known that when she did the test and everything. And so what she did is she marked it with a red X and she circled at the same time, which you and I would say, well, that's no big deal, but it was wrong. It was not according procedure. And this has been stressed to the kids that, you know, there's an honor system. You got to do it right. Well, we didn't catch her on that, but I think it was about three or four days later, she came to my office and she said, "Can I talk to you?"

And and I I said, "Okay." She came in and sat down across the desk from me and and then she began to cry and she said, "I I did something terrible." And she was crying. She was crying so bad. I thought she was going to tell me she murdered her parents. That's that's how bad it seemed like. She was just weeping and she was broken. And I said, 'What did you do? And she said, 'I circled a red X. Now, it was only one red X that she circled, but it it eaten away on the inside of her for those last three or four days, and she felt so guilty about it, she had to come and she said she said, "I feel like I'm burdened somebody."

Now, when she told me she circled that red X, I just wanted to laugh. I mean, it really wasn't a big deal. But I didn't. I said, 'Well, and she said, "I'm just miserable." And I said, 'Well, I'm glad. And she said, "You're glad I'm miserable." And I said, "Yeah, because that shows me that you're not going to let sin in your life. God's showing you you can't you can't tolerate this." And that's good, you know, because we have to see sin as sin is was wrong. And if we see the little things as wrong, we're less likely to do the big things. that girl's less likely to have murdered her parents, but that other boy, I'm afraid he might do that at some point, you know.

Um, it's it's a different attitude. And and she had she got right and she confessed that sin. She got right with God because she realized what I did was wrong. And she didn't blame anybody else. She blamed herself. I did this and I was wrong. And and that's what we have to do. And and so Saul admitted to one sin and he did get emotional. Look at verses 25- 27 again. He says uh he he he he begged Saul Samuel to go with him and he even fell down and grabbed hold of the skirt of his mantle and as he walk away he said don't leave me. Don't leave me. And he got very emotional. But emotion is not repentance.

Remember that. I've got one one daughter who deserved an Academy Award for crying. I mean, that girl could turn on the tears whenever she wanted to and she would look so sincere, but it wasn't real. And and and sometimes the emotions are real because we're emotional. We got caught. We're emotional. We did wrong, but there's not a repentance that's there. And that's the way s Sam s Saul was. He was emotional, but not for the right reasons. He got very emotional, but he did not repent. And so remember that emotion is not repentance. And that's important for us to remember. I need to check I don't have my clock back there.

So um and he was concerned about what other people thought. He was more concerned about what other people thought than what God thought. And and you got to get to the point you're not as concerned. Now again, that doesn't mean you have to tell everybody about all the terrible things you do. In James, it says to confess your faults one to another. Uh it it doesn't say to conf to tell me every dirty detail of your sin. But there are times in our lives where we need to be willing to say what I did is wrong and ask for prayer and ask for accountability. There are certain sins you will never get victory over without humbling yourself and admitting your sin, asking for somebody to pray for you and asking for someone to hold you accountable.

I think the sin of pornography is one of those and there's many other sins as well that you will never get victory until you're willing to humble yourself and admit it and to admit it somebody else. Again, it doesn't mean you have to stand up church and say everybody, I've been looking at pornography, but you have to be willing to admit that. Now, there are times where you have to get up in front of everybody when it's a public sin. David's sin was known by the people and he needed to get right before the nation. And there are times, you know, a young lady gets pregnant, she and the boy need to stand up from the church and say, "What we did was wrong."

You know, there are times when we do things wrong that we have to be willing to admit that and take responsibility for that. But more importantly, it's not to worry about what people think. It's worry about what God thinks. And that's where Saul was wrong. Now, David, go to first 2 Samuel chapter 12. And let's look at how he responded to his punishment. And the first thing he did is he accepted his punishment in verses 20- 23. Then David arose. Now the baby died. David had been weeping and wouldn't eat and was laying on the ground praying uh and just was would was just broken. The serpents were worried about him.

And then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and came to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he came to his own house. And when he required when he required they set bread before him and didn't eat. Then said his servants unto him, "What thing is this that thou has done? Thou just fast and weep for the child while yet alive. But when the child was dead, thou uh just rise and eat bread?" And he said, "While the child was yet alive, I fast and wept. For I said, who could tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live?" But now that he he is dead, wherefore should I fast?

Can I bring it back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. And so David, he he he's he he got to that point. He said, 'You know what? If God's going to punish me, I can't change that. I can ask. And he did. He asked not for himself, but for the child. He said, God, this child's not the guilty one here. But you know, one of the things we have to realize is often our sin affects others and they pay the consequences for our sins. And that's important to realize. And and so J David accepted his punishment. This is what God's going to do. This is what God's going to do. He admitted his sin nature in in 1st Samuel 12 or 2 Samuel 12:13.

He says, "And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord." And um and and go to Psalms 51. Hold your place in 2 Samuel 12 uh:es 5-7. Behold, I was shaped iniquity and sinned my mother conceived me. Behold, thou desires truth in the inward parts and I and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hiss, but I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Listen, he said, listen, I was shaped in iniquity. Doesn't mean that it it was sin when he was born. It means that the moment I was conceived, the moment God created me in the womb, from that moment forward, I had a sin nature.

And I am a sinner by nature. And the sooner you recognize, the better you'll find to get victory over your over that sin nature. If you acknowledge it that I will do wrong if given a chance. And that's why I should not give a chance. If I stay up late at night and watching TV, I'm going to probably watch the wrong things. If I go on the internet when nobody else is around, I'm going to probably look at the wrong things. You know, we're what with the sin nature is going to lead us to wrong. And that's why we need to protect against that. And he acknowledges sin nature. He acknowledged I've got this sin nature within me that needs to be dealt with and um and the hidden parts and but he also he got emotional for others in in verse 16 is 2 Samuel says David therefore besought God for the child and David fasted and and went and lay all night upon the earth.

I mean, he was weeping and crying and calling out to God, not for himself, but for others, his baby, that baby. And and it is realizing that I've hurt others. And and to confess that and to ask forgiveness from those we've hurt, and to get emotional because we've hurt others in our lives. He was not concerned about what others thought. He was weeping and fasting and laying on the floor. And the servants were all worried about him because he wouldn't eat. And he says, "You know what? I don't care what you think. I want to I want to get right with God." And he was he was concerned. He was not concerned about whether thought, but what he was concerned about was his testimony.

In 2 Samuel 12:14, "How be it because by this deed thou is given great occasion, the enemies of the Lord to blasphe the child also born into thee shall surely die." He had heard the testimony of God. Here he's supposed to be a go, a man after God's own heart. He's supposed to be the great king of Israel. and he did what he did and he understood I heard God's testimony and all the nations around us going to are are going to mock God because of what I did and um look at Psalms 51 verse number 13 again Psalms 51:13 then will I teach transgression the way the sinners shall be converted unto thee I've got to get right and then I can teach others one of the best things we can do as adults for the young people is is admit I did wrong.

Because when we acknowledge that, we can help them not make the same mistakes that we made. And that was David wanted to do. He said, "Listen, don't mess up like I messed up. Don't do what I did." And and he was concerned about that. In second Corinthians chapter 6:3, he said, "Be of no offense that the gospel be not blamed." And there are people that are not saved because of some other Christian's testimony. Well, if that's the way Christians are, I don't want anything to do with it. And we heard the testimony of the Lord. And that's what David did there as well. All right. Then we'll look at next week the results of what happened when David confessed, what happened for him, what happened for Saul, what are the results if we do the confession, right?

And so we'll finish that off uh next week in looking at that as well. I would challenge you memorize Psalm 51. It's a great passage to memorize. I would challenge you that when you sin, go and read Psalm chapter 51. In fact, make it a prayer. Now, don't just do it as a rope prayer, but make it personal. When you when David talked about sin, I acknowledge my sin. At that point in your prayer, acknowledge, Lord, I sinned and this is what I did. To acknowledge that specifically. It is good for you to verbally say this is what I did wrong. to acknowledge that and just to make it your prayer of asking God's forgiveness because if God forgave David because of this prayer, then God can also forgive you and I. And and so Psalm 51 is such a great passage to help cleanse you and to get you right with God and get you right focused on that sin and what you need to do next. I would encourage you in that