Pastor Derek Berry "Summer in the Psalms" - Sermon 4 (6/28/2026)

Most of us carry something we wish we could change, but failure does not have to be final. Psalm 51 gives us one of the most honest prayers in all of Scripture, written by David after a devastating season of sin and cover-up. Genuine repentance begins with owning your sin completely, appealing to God's mercy rather than your own merit, and recognizing that every sin ultimately grieves the heart of God. David did not ask God to improve him. He asked God to remake him entirely, using the Hebrew word bara, the same word used for creation in Genesis 1. Repentance restores joy, restores purpose, and ultimately shifts our focus from ourselves to the glory of God. The Bible is not a book about perfect people. It is a book about a perfect Savior who restores broken ones.

Transcript

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We're going to look this morning in Psalm 51, and we're going to look on a thought about how failure isn't final. Failure isn't final. And I love how David praised this prayer. I think they're so beneficial for you and I, no matter what we have been through or going through in our life. And I've got a thought behind this, and I'll and I'll preach the whole text eventually. We'll get to all 19 verses. And as you find your your place in the text, I want to ask you this. If somebody handed you the keys to a time machine and said, you can go back and change one decision in your life. Many of us can think of some things. Now we don't have the option of that. There's no that I know of, there's not a time machine unless unless Tesla has one that we're unsure of. I thought by the time uh I got to be 42 years old that they would have them, but uh they they they haven't uh came out with them yet. But if you had the option to get in one, what would you change? Would it be a conversation that you wish would have gone a little different? Would it been a decision that you made, a a choice that you would like to change, a financial choice that you made? Would it be a season of rebellion that maybe you went through that you wish that you didn't? Uh would it be a a night where maybe some things got compromised that you wished it wouldn't have? I'm sure all of us, if we stopped and individually thought about it for a moment, we could probably identify one area in our life that I would like to go back and fix and change. But it doesn't work that way. Life doesn't work that way. Life doesn't work where I can go backwards and change. There's no rewind buttons. There's really not even any undue keys. To be honest with you, I wish that there was at times. I was playing a video game with Maverick, and I was racing the car, and I totaled out one of his favorite cars in the garage. And I thought he was gonna be upset. Man, I'm sorry. He's like, no, look, he pushes the rewind button. We rewind back 35 seconds, and he says, just hit the brakes, you'll be all right now. And so I the game started over, I hit the brakes, and I didn't wreck his car. Why? Because the video game had the rewind option. I can go back and change what I thought that I knew best of. If you really think about your life individually, maybe you have been there and done that. We're wish that you could have done it a little bit different. Maybe you've wondered, man, can God ever redeem what I've ruined? If you literally identify some things in my life, could God still use somebody like me? I know that David was a man after God's own heart, but yet God still used him even after he messed up time and time again. If you've ever asked yourself those questions, I think Psalms 51 is really for you. Because this Psalm teaches us a very incredible truth. And I want to give it to you on the screen so you can remember it. Failure doesn't have to be the final chapter of your life when you genuinely repent. See, oftentimes we try to hide it or cover it up and try to move on as if something never happened. So therefore, we never truly, genuinely repent. And because of that, it feels as if it was final, even in the failure was there. But what I've learned in David's prayer is what I want to truly sort of pull apart in these 19 verses, is we need to understand why he prayed it, and then I want to take apart these verses. You can make a note and study it later. I'll read Psalms 51 in a moment, I promise. But if you read and jot down in 2 Samuel 11 and 12, you'll see what David went through in his life that led him to praying the prayer that you and I are going to study this morning in the text. Yeah, what I what I think is crazy is 2 Samuel chapter 11 starts out and it talks about how the kings were supposed to be at the battle. And then after that, verse 1, it continues and it goes on. And as I talk about it, you might remember it that he, the king was at home, King David was at home, and he saw Bathsheba bathing, and then he lusted after her, and then he uh uh talked to her, and then they had a child, and he tried to cover it up. Her husband was at battle, and David sent for the husband to come home, and he came home, and that that plan didn't work. So David then wrote a letter to the commanding officer of the army, Joab, and said, Man, put your eye uh your eye on the front line and let him face the battle because ultimately he would die. And that's exactly what happened. David thought the scandal was buried. He thought that it was all over. He thought that he had swept this uh failure that he had under the rug. And then it wasn't long after that, according to 2 Samuel chapter number 11, that a prophet knocked on the door. Nathan came a knocking, and God had put it on his heart, and he asked David a few questions and gave him a story, an illustration, talked about a rich man and a poor man, and even told him that the rich man had herds and flock everywhere. And said, But yet the poor man had one small lamb that he had raised from a babe and fed, and basically treated it like it was his own child. Anybody got a dog that they treat like a kid, you understand the love that you have of your animals. He loved this little lamb as if it was a child. And the rich man came and said, Man, I need to have some dinner. And so rather I got a whole bunch. Rather than taking my herd, my flock, I'll just take yours. And as Nathan the prophet was giving this story to uh David, it made him angry. And he was mad and said, Man, this rich man should pay and fix this fourfold or whatever. He said, Exactly. I'm paraphrasing. And Nathan responded back and said, David, you're the man. You're the man that I am speaking of. You're the man that has done this. And honestly, it took him by surprise. I don't think that he ever looked at it from God's vantage point. He only looked at it from his vantage point. But in that moment that he, Nathan said to David, You're the man, everything changed. The mask came off. The cover-up was over, the excuses were done. David had finally saw David the way God saw David. And that's what changed everything. Didn't matter what sin we've ever committed, if we look at it from God's perspective and realize that it's broke God's heart, it should then lead us to have a changed heart. That's what I want to show you this morning in our text of Psalms 51. We find ourselves seeing this prayer that David prayed unto the Lord after he saw himself the way God saw him. And out of that brokenness is what he writes here in Psalms 51, verse number one. He says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you alone have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight, that you may be found just 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 inward parts, talking about the heart, and in the hidden parts you will make me to know wisdom. Verse seven, he changes his tuna hair and says, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me, and 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 uphold me by your generous spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted to you. He goes on in verse fourteen, Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, that the God of my salvation, my tongue shall single out all your righteousness, O Lord. Open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth your praise. For you do not desire sacrifice, or else I would have given it. You do not delight in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. These, O God, you will not despise. Do good in your good pleasure to Zion, build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering, and a whole burnt offering, then they shall offer bulls unto your offer altar. These nineteen verses are coming out of a prayer of brokenness that David had as he's praying unto the Lord. I want to show you three things this morning that talked and teach you and show you through the scripture where failure isn't final with true repentance. Here's the first thing I'll show you. We're going to find it in the first six verses of our text this morning, which is this genuine repentance will always own the sin. Doesn't make an excuse. Doesn't try to act as if it happened because of this or that. Genuine repentance owns whatever mistakes and sin that you and I have ever done. Listen, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We understand what David had gone through that led him to the brokenness that he's at, where he's praying this prayer. And I don't have to be guilty of the same exact sin that David had. I am guilty of sin within myself. Why? I know because the scripture tells me that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory. And it's because that sin that I need Jesus, and it's because of that sin that I couldn't get to heaven. So God sent Jesus for you and for I. So I get all that. I understand that I don't have to be guilty of the same sin that David had to truly understand and own my sin. I could be guilty of all sin. What? Of all sin. And I'm not going to give examples of it because you've sinned different ways than I have, and some of us have had sin in the same ways. But just because I'm saved doesn't mean sin stops. I wish it did. But I strive to be closer to Him, and I try to get the better and better day by day. And David shows me how to do so in this text. Genuine repentance owns the sin. I know that because these couple verses show me that. Honesty is the key. That's really the first evidence I see is David being honest. Look with me in the first two verses, because I don't think that you and I can ever be restored if we're not honest. The first two verses of the text really started out. He says, Here I am, Lord, here I am. Give me this mercy. What does it say? Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kind. That's how he starts off. Notice that David didn't use his own merit, but he used God's mercy. This is what I mean by that. David could have gone before God and said, God, I've been a good king. He could have went and said, God, listen, at 17 years old, I was tending to my father's sheep, and you needed me to go slay Goliath. And I stopped everything I was doing, and I took the journey, and I stood before Goliath, and I and I was mocked and made fun of. I even put on the different armor, and then eventually I knew that you were going to fight the battle, and then we killed that giant. I've done all this for you. Now I need some mercy. He didn't do that. He didn't go and say, Man, I'm I've been a good king to your people. And because of that, give me mercy. He didn't say, Man, God, I have served you in a mighty way, and because of that, I deserve the mercy that you have. He didn't go with his own merits. He didn't go. And if anything that he could have done, he could have said, Man, God, I've sung, I've sung some praises to you. There's all kinds of Psalms written to you. Because of that, God, give me mercy. No? He says in verse number one, have mercy on me, O God. He did not go on his own merit. He went because of God's mercy. What I love is that David comes with nothing to offer. He has no excuses. He doesn't try to bargain with anything. He doesn't try to broker a deal with the Lord. He went with his own accord, saying, God, I've messed up. I need your mercy. Have mercy on me. And that teaches me how many times I went to the Lord, Lord, listen, I've been. I did this for you, Lord. I've done that for you. Man, I led this one to the Lord. God, give me some mercy. Listen, that's not what it's about. See, David threw himself completely on the mercy seat of God, not because of anything that David had ever done, not any merit that he had ever accomplished or any accolades that he would have had ultimately received. He came before God humble and said, I need mercy. And what I love is that none of us can stand before God because we earn the right to stand before God. We can only stand before God because of the mercy that he has upon us. And that's what David shows us right here. So don't think that I can get any more mercy than you get because I preach every Sunday and you maybe don't. That's not how it works. I don't come on my merit, I come on his mercy. And that's what David showed us in the first two verses. It's his mercy. Listen, I don't want anybody to ever say, my sin's too great, because David would say, Man, I'll tell you that God's mercy is greater than any sin that you've ever committed. And that encourages my heart. Look at verse 3, 4, and 5. Not only did he come with the right heart, he didn't come on merit. He came on mercy. What else? In verse 3, 4, and 5, I see that he took ownership. Notice, if you write in your Bible, I encourage you to underline, circle, or highlight every time he uses the word my or me. Multiple times in this moment, he uses this personal pronoun of mine right here in the text, and he says, for in verse 3, for I acknowledge my transgressions. He said, I own this sin. Verse 3, and my sin is always before me. Verse 4, against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight that you may be found just when you speak blameless when you judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity in my mother's sin conceived me, meaning I inherited the sin nature that you and I have all inherited. Multiple times from verse number one all the way to verse number six, he uses the personal pronoun my. He doesn't blame Bathsheba for his sin. He doesn't blame her husband. He doesn't blame the army official Joab. And you know what else he doesn't blame? He doesn't blame stress. You and I live in a world that the world teaches us to push blame and to hide. Listen, many times I could say, man, I was just stressed out. That's why I did what I did. I wasn't thinking straight because I just put too much pressure on myself. What I love about David is he didn't make an excuse about stress or pressure, and he didn't even blame it on the devil. He owned it and said, My sin and my transgression, our culture that you and I live in today is very good at teaching you and I to try to explain our sins. David simply confessed it and repentance began. He didn't try to explain why he did it. He just simply said, I have done it. Sadly, I found in this generation and culture that we live in, many people spend years trying to explain why they sinned. And you know what God's looking for? He ain't looking for you to give him an explanation. He just wants a confession. And the moment we confessed is when honesty begins, and in that moment, God can be able to heal us and to restore us. Look in verse number four for a moment. I want to look about this sin because he says in verse four, Against you and you only have I sinned. So I get that he's on the sin. I get that that he took ownership. He didn't go on his merit, he went on God's mercy. And you get to verse number four, and I started to get a picture of David's heart of who sin really offends. Because he says in verse number four, now we know according to 2 Samuel 11 and 12 what he did, the adultery, the fair that took place, and we know that he had to face consequences for it. We understand all that through studying the text. But in verse number four, he says this, you and you only have I sinned. Now you and I might ask the question as we're studying the Bible together and saying, brother, I'm really saying, God, didn't he sin against Bathsheba? Didn't he sin against her husband? Didn't he sin against Joab as he got his one of him to put somebody on the front line for no reason? You could have jotted all that down and say, yeah, he sinned against them too. But what David shows us in his heart as he's praying this prayer to God in verse number four is that David understood something that I want you and I to get and grasp. Every sin committed against anybody is first committed against God. And if I would look at no matter what I have done, if I've sinned ultimately against God, that is where the perspective of life changes. I think personally he saw how it broke God's heart once Nathan the prophet came to him and it changed everything. The greatest tragedy, listen to me, and don't misquote me here, the greatest tragedy that David did wasn't that he sinned against Uriah, the husband, no. The greatest tragedy that David did was when he grieved the heart of God. And if I would look at from the smallest sin to the biggest sin as I categorize them myself and realize no matter what I've done, it grieves God's heart. That's when I look at things differently from God's perspective. His heart was broken. Why? Because he offended a holy God. His heart was broken because he realized. Man, I've grieved God's heart, not because he got caught, but because it grieved God's heart. The difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow is this. Worldly sorrow tries to tell us to cover it up and hide it. Godly sorrow says, come make it right. Come make it right. One, I think it's sorry because they had to face the consequences. That's worldly. But man, godly sorrow is, man, I'm upset because I grieved the the heart of God. Well, let me leave you with this nugget and then we'll dig in a little bit deeper. Healing begins when honesty begins. No matter what it is. I ain't gonna be honest about it, and I ain't gonna be able to heal from it. Look with me in verse seven as David changes tune. I love how the scriptures will sort of divide itself up to understand it a little easier. He starts off with owning his sin. Now notice in verse number seven the tune changes a hair because he asked, he owned it all, and in verse seven, he starts with purge me. Purge me. Verse seven is going to show you and I that genuine repentance is going to seek a new heart. In verse number seven, what I love about it, he says, purge me with hiss, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. He talks about visually think about a bath cleaning you or me after working hard and being nasty from being outside. He tells God in this prayer, God, purge me, cleanse me, help me, clean me. Then he gets into verse number eight and says, Man, make me hear joy and gladness. Talks about his bones being broken. They may be rejoiceful. I start thinking about this, man. We know that David has admitted it. We know that he now realizes that the problem, but his biggest problem isn't what he did. Listen to me. His biggest problem now is what he's become. Oftentimes when you begin to fall and fall and fall and hide and hide and hide, like he did in 2 Samuel 11 and 12, he hides it. Well, he ends up turning himself into something that he never was because he lost a joy, he lost happiness, he lost contentment. All the things that come when we've sinned. And the huge difference to me in this text is that he recognized it. Now most people say, God, I want you to remove the consequences. I don't want to face the consequences of my sins. But what we find in this text is that he didn't ask God to remove the consequences. He says, God, give me a clean and a fresh heart by cleaning me. Probably my favorite verse in these 19 verses is verse number 10, and we'll get to it. But I love how he puts it all together. Now let's look, let's look first about uh in verse 7. He's praying and he asks, purge me with Hissa. What is that? I think he's more concerned about God's presence than his protection at this point. I think he truly was devastated that he had a broken fellowship with God. And he was more concerned about. The presence of God being with him and the fellowship being with him, than he was about the throne that he is set in. And he asked him to clean him. And that word would have been an important word. They all would have understood what it was used for. Every Jewish person would have realized the significance with this hysset. They would have known that, man, it was used at the Passover. And as they put the blood on the door for the Passover, it was also used to clean leopards, a cleansing of leopards. So this word, this symbolizes purification. And David knew that. So as he laid it out in verse number seven in the prayer, after he owned everything, and now he's essentially going from owning it all and recognizing it all and being honest, to now saying, God, I need a new heart, a clean heart. He's saying, clean me. Use this as the purification because on the outside is what everybody saw, but on the inside is what I need fixed. And I need new. And I can't do it on my own. See, David understood something. His problem wasn't that he needed a better image. His problem was that he needed a cleansing. Now listen, dude, he was the king, right? Everybody looked at him. You and I realized, you and I live in a generation where everybody sees everything we do no matter what. We're always on camera. You realize that? I mean, they take a picture of my license plate. I don't appreciate them sending me tickets, just to be honest with you. Right? I'm like, man, school's on. School was over. I'll be honest with you. It wasn't even going on. All right? They send you tickets for this. I was, uh me and Henry was down the over here at the Walmarts one time, and this guy was driving up and down the thing. And I said, Henry, she's like, what's he doing, Dad? I was like, he's looking for license plates. He's a repo man. He's trying to take somebody's car. She's like, Are you serious? I said, Yeah. They don't even got to type the number in. They just drive and the camera scans them. Interesting how it is this day and age. We're all being watched all the time. So therefore I want my image to be right. See, David wasn't worried necessarily about his image as the king. I'm telling you, when I read verses 7, 8, 9, and 10, I read that David was more concerned about the presence and a fellowship with a living God than he was about his image as the king. How many of us would be better off not worried about the image that I portray? Or what others might see me differently or think? I'm more worried about my fellowship with the Lord. And that's when he said, God, I need you to purge this and clean me and fix this because I want my joy restored. I need a new heart. Verse number eight, he uses that word make my heart or make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones you have broken may rejoice. David isn't asking for happiness. He's actually asking for joy. You know the difference between happiness and joy? Joy comes from within. No matter what happens around me, because of the Lord, I have joy no matter what. Happiness is all based upon external events. If I don't get my way, I'm not happy. If this didn't work out the way that I thought it should, I'm not happy. Happiness is based on the outside environment that you and I have zero control over. Joy is based upon a relationship that you have with Christ. And that's why David is asking for his joy and his gladness to be restored. And you say, well, man, what happened to it? Because when he sinned, it broke the fellowship with the Lord. And it's almost as if the joy was stolen. His joy that he once had was gone because of the choices that he made, and he knew that he could do nothing to get it back. He needed God to give him a clean and a fresh heart, purge and clean. I think one of the greatest lies that the devil ever tells is that freedom brings, uh that sin brings freedom. And ultimately, what we discover when we study it is that sin does not bring freedom. It actually brings guilt and shame and bondage. And eventually it'll steal your joy, is exactly what happened in David's life. He sinned, hid it, covered it up, continued his day-to-day operations like nothing ever happened. And the next thing you know, he wake up one day and he's lost. No joy. Therefore, he thinks he's not happy because ultimately he isn't. See, what I love reading David's prayer is that David isn't asking God to pretend that the sin never happened. He's asking God to remove it completely. That's why he uses the word blot out in the text. He uses the word blot out, verse number nine, hide your face from my sins and blot it out, to wipe it away or to erase it. You ever written something down and tried to erase it and it didn't work? Sometimes you can scribble it out if you wrote in pen and you still sort of see the impressions on the paper. You've written it with whiteboard before and it sort of stays, maybe because you use cheap markers or because the whiteboard's wore out. I don't know. This is like, man, I've written it down and I've wiped it away and it's gone completely. That's what that word blot out means, to wipe away completely. And that's what he's asking me to do, Lord. I need a fresh heart. Listen, sin has stolen my joy. Blot this out. What I've learned in my days is some of us walk into church carrying things that nobody knows about. We all do, even me. And at times we smile, we serve, we worship, but inside we've lost our joy. And I don't know how to detect that. It's not for me to detect. It's between you and the Lord. But the greatest thing that I can learn from David is that yes, his joy was lost, but God didn't move. What moved? Sin moved him away from God. And so he felt like he had no joy or no happiness. And David reminds us the beauty of repentance is now, man, God, I've owned it. Help me fix this, please. And here, let me go a little bit deeper in verse 10. I told you I like verse 10. Look at verse 10. Create in me a clean heart. Let me tell you why I like this word, create. It's an interesting word because what he's saying here in the text, I believe that David is lying out here. He's saying, man, he's saying, God, I'm genuinely repenting. And because of that, I'm not trying for you to make me have better behavior. I'm trying to make you to make me fresh and new. Because he's not asking for him to fix his behavior or have a better behavior. He is saying, create in me something fresh and new. So if you look at verse 10, create in me a clean heart, David is not saying, Lord, help me try harder to do better. But we've all probably prayed that one before. God, I would like to do this a little better. I'd like to be a little nicer here. He didn't say, Lord, give me another chance. He didn't say, Lord, I'll never do it again if you just do this and that and help me get this back. I won't do that. No. No, he says one word that I want to look at in verse number 10. It's the word create. And I don't want to get real nerdy with you with word searches, but let me give you some insight here. That word create in verse number 10 that we read is the same exact word that God used in Genesis chapter number one and verse number one. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Why is that important to look at? It's the same exact Hebrew word, Hebrew word would be bara. The importance behind it is in all of the Old Testament, when you see that Hebrew word, the only time that it's not used by God is right here in this text in verse number 10. But David is using it for God to do it. Every other time it's used because it's used in this text uh in the same way it was used in Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created, meaning the only reason it's used by God is because God's the only one that can do it. See, God is the creator, not the created, right? So God is the creator, he created all things. That's why in Genesis 1.1 it says, in the beginning, God created. God was the only one that could have created it. He is the only one that can create life. He's created every living being that's ever lived. Every animal, every plant, every human, God has created. He made them exactly the way he wanted to. That's God. He's the creator. So in the beginning, God created, we see that word create means bara, means that only God could have done it. Now I might create some things, I might build stuff, I might try to fix this, but only God can create something out of nothing. And so now think about this for a second. In this text, specifically in verse number 10, when he says, David says in this prayer, create in me a clean heart. Why is that important? The Old Testament is only used for something that God could do. Why is it important? People don't use that word because people can't create. Why is it important? Because David is saying, God, I need you to do only what you can do. I don't have the capabilities of doing it. I need you to create in me a clean heart because I can't do it. You need to. How many times in my life of praying and repenting and asking God for forgiveness do I try to say, God, I just want to try harder? I just want to fix more heart. Listen, David realized as he's writing this out in this prayer, created me a clean heart. David realized that he, David, couldn't cre couldn't repair his heart. David realized that he couldn't fix what was broken. He realized that he couldn't clean his own heart. He realized that he could not have changed himself. He's essentially God. You're gonna have to do something that only you can do, essentially what he's saying. You can do it, I can't, but I need you to. I think that's repentance. Repentance is finally reaching the place where you stop trying to fix you. We live in a we live in a moment where we feel like we can fix anything. YouTube. Right, right? I can get on YouTube and I can figure out how to fix about anything. Now I don't know what they did before YouTube, I'll be honest with you. I don't know. But I feel, man, I can man, I can do it all. YouTube, duct tape, super glue, a hammer, I got it. But the truth of the matter is that has morphed over into my spiritual life, and I think that I can fix my own heart. But David is showing you and I that we can't. He's saying, God, you can. But I can't. I've tried, I'll mess up. I think repentance is finally realizing that I can't fix it, but I've got to be surrendered to the one that can fix it. And that's what David shows you and I in verse number 10. Think about that for a moment. Maybe the greatest evidence, in my opinion, of genuine faith is when you stop asking God to change your circumstances and ask God to start changing you. David finally quits saying, God, fix my situation, and finally says, God, fix me. Fix me. I'm the problem here. Why do you think Jesus spent so much time on the Sermon on the Mount preaching about the heart? Now I can read all about the Pharisees. They prayed good. They gave, they did all this stuff on the outside, but their heart was rotten to the core. And that's why Jesus gave the parables that he gave on the Sermon on the Mount because he said, if the heart's messed up, everything's messed up. It doesn't matter what they do. And David recognized that and knew that. You and I need to get a hold of that and realize, man, it's my heart that's got to change. Listen to me, I think one of the biggest struggles that believers have is that we spend a lot of times trying to change our fruit while we ignore the root. And that's the truth. We try to change out our fruit to make it look better, smell better, taste better, be whatever. But the root's the problem. And that's what David was getting a hold of. We stop, we stop looking at the fruit when we say, Man, I'll stop doing that. I'm gonna stop saying that. I'm gonna stop looking at that. I'm gonna stop doing that. And really, what we gotta do is say, God, fix my heart. You know what religion teaches you and I? Religion teaches us to try harder. Jesus, the gospel, says, Come unto me. The gospel tells us to come to Christ. Religion says, fix yourself, you'll get better. The gospel says, Come unto me, and I'll fix you. That's what David showed you and I. Listen to me. Look at verse 11 and 12 before we move on. The restored fellowship. I think genuine repentance restores fellowship. Look at verse 11 and 12. He says, 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 uphold me by your generous spirit. I think David had watched Saul fall. He knew that God's presence could be uh take away the blessings, and he didn't want that. He watched the Spirit of God depart from Saul. Now, praise unto the Lord is that Jesus died and rose again. This is the Old Testament, the New Testament is that he enters me, he doesn't leave me. In the Old Testament, he would come upon some and leave. David recognized that. What I love is that David wasn't worried about losing the throne as much as he was worried about losing the fellowship with God. Man, how many of us could be stirred up by having the fellowship of God? Notice verse number 12. I love this. Restore to me your joy of whose salvation yours. He said, God, I need something restored. But the order was repentance, clean me, give me a new heart. Now restore the joy that was lost. Listen, I believe every believer who wanders from God knows the feeling that you can smile on the outside, but on the inside you feel empty. On the inside, you feel without joy. You might show up, but you're empty on the inside. David, I think, is saying in these couple verses is that, Lord, I want the joy back, and I know that you're the only one that can put it back. I can't do it on my own. That's what I'm, that's what I think he's saying. I think many people spend years, months, a time period trying to fix their self, and all they really need to do is come to the Lord and say, God, you fix me. God, you've cleansed me. God, you created me a new heart. I think we should stop asking God to make us a better version of ourselves and say, God, I need a new heart. I've messed up. I need a fix that only you can provide. Let me give you this nugget, then I'll move to the last few verses before we're done. God doesn't just forgive the sinner, he transforms the heart. You got to remember that. And you're gonna see that in this next text in verse 13 on the rest of the chapter, is it's because now David is fixed. He's asked for a new heart, but now he said, I want to be restored for purpose. I want to be used by you, God. Look at verse 13, and then we'll look at our last thought. Genuine repentance leads to restored purpose. Verse 13 says, Then. I like that because he's asked for all these things: new uh forgiveness, a new heart, in this order, and then you get to the word, then. After all that, then I want to I will teach transgressors your way, and sinners shall be converted to you. He said, I don't want to waste my mess up. I want to use it to point others to you because of what you've done. That's what these next few verses show you and I. He's been clean, he's been fixed, and now he's saying, Man, I want to be used again. Look at verse 14. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed. The God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness. Oh Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall show forth your praise. He said, I'm gonna give you glory and praise because you're the only one that's worthy. What I love, let's go back to verse 13 for a second, the word then. That little word changes everything. He said, After you forgive me, God, I want to be restored. I think only God could use the darkest chapters in somebody's life to use it to point others back to him. And that's what he, David, is asking for. And then in verse 14, I was reading those verses and I started thinking about a restored heart, worships different. David is essentially letting us know that, man, he is overflown. The overwhelming sense of what God had restored him from, essentially is causing him to worship different. I'm telling you, when I realize what God did for me and what he's done for you, it changes my perspective. I praise him different, I sing songs different, I give him glory different than I used to, because I'm telling you, restore people, worship different. And that's essentially what David is showing you and I in this text. Notice in verse 16, sometimes when we study this, these verses, we scratch our head a little bit and think, oh, I'm confused, but I want to clarify something here. Verse 16 says, For you do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it. You do not delight in burnt offering. Now, think about that. Now, many like, man, preacher, I thought that there were offerings in the Old Testament of animals and sacrifices. And even in the New Testament, there is today, right? We sacrifice our time and our treasures unto the Lord. Of course, that's what he wants us to do. So why is he saying, why is David saying right here that you do not desire us to do that or to give it? Because notice the next verse, though, verse 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. So what did David mean when he said what he said in verse number 16? He's saying, if I am not surrendered unto you, it does not matter what sacrifices I bring you or what burnt offering I give you. That's why it wouldn't be accepted because I'm not surrendered unto you. What God wants is a surrendered heart and then the sacrifices. But many of us, because of embarrassment, we don't want it. Then I want to continue to give unto the Lord sacrificially. And he's like, man, I don't want that. I want your heart surrendered. And when your heart surrendered, then I'll give it to you. That's why he said in verse number 17, the sacrifices of God. Notice the sacrifices plural there, of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Those, O God, you will not despise. God wants us broken before him because he'll restore us and rebuild us exactly where he wants us. Think about Peter denying Christ three times, but yet God used him in a mighty way. Why is that? Because we serve a God of restoration. Some of you believe God has maybe even forgotten you. Could God ever use me again? David would disagree and say he could. Peter would disagree and say he could. You know what I like is the Bible is filled with broken people who became a very powerful testimony of God's grace. You've got to always remember that the Bible's full of broken people that are restored because of God. Last two verses of the text, 18 and 19, I don't want to overlook them. Do good in your good pleasure to Zion, build the walls of Jerusalem, then you shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings, then you shall offer the bulls of your altar. What's he talking about? He's trying, notice the progression of changing. He owned his sin. He went to the Lord humbly, owned it, asked for forgiveness, and then got forgiven, asked for a fresh and a clean heart, and then he started praising the Lord and wanting to use the brokenness for God's glory. And then he finishes this prayer up by asking God to essentially, he's praying for Zion, praying for Jerusalem, and he wants them to flourish again. What happened? His focus changed. When he was deep in sin, it's all about him. He owned it, gave it to God. God healed him, God fixed it. He said, Cleanse my heart, purge this, fix that. He did all of that. And then instead of being consumed with his self continuously, he said, God, I want you to have the glory. And that's why he finished out verse 18 and 19 by saying, God, bless them, make them flourish again. When God restores you, life stops being about protecting your reputation. It starts becoming more about advancing the kingdom of God. And that's the truth. But it only happens after our heart's healed. Let me give you this and then I'll close. God can redeem what genuine repentance surrenders. Okay? God can redeem what genuine repentance surrenders. I started off this morning together asking about a time machine. I asked you where you'd go if you had the opportunity, a decision, a choice, a relationship, a conversation, a season of your life. The truth is none of us get that opportunity. We don't get that option. David didn't go back. You and I can't go back and change yesterday. But what the good thing about Psalms 51 is that, yes, I cannot go back and rewrite my past, but God can completely rewrite my future. That's what he shows me in this text. David couldn't erase his mistakes. He couldn't undo the consequences. He couldn't do any of that, but what he could do is come to the Lord humbly and repent, and God restored him. And that's exactly what we see here. Peter couldn't go back and change the three denials, but Jesus restored them after he owned it. The Bible, listen to me, the Bible is a book about a perfect Savior, not a book about a bunch of perfect people. The Bible is not about perfect people. The Bible is about a perfect Savior who restores broken people. And you and I are in a broke, we're broken, and we need God to restore us. Remember that. Don't think that you're odd because you're broken. No, you're just like everybody else. The greatest thing that you and I can ever do is come unto the Lord and give it to Him and allow Him to restore us, allow Him to clean our hearts, and allow Him to use that to benefit His kingdom to tell the world about what He did, how gracious and merciful God has been to us individually. Would you pray as I pray, Lord, I come to you this morning praising you. God, thankful that we can see into David's heart as he prays. Thankful that you are a God of restoration. You can restore if we own it. You can fix where we've messed up. God, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would have your way in this moment of invitation. There's some that are here that are hurt, broken, some that need to just give it to you, whether that be at the altar or in their seat. Lord, I pray that you would limit distraction and allow us individually to come unto you in this moment of invitation so that we can have that clean heart, get right, have our joy restored, and go about serving you, pointing people to you. We love you and praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's take