WHAT
TO DO WHEN YOU'VE BLOWN IT
(PSALM
51)
INTRODUCTION:
1.
Today we’re going to look at a story about
a man of God who "blew it" in a big way. He committed sins that you
simply wouldn’t expect a good man to commit. And it wasn’t one of those cases where
he accidentally committed a sin before he realized what was going on. No, he
put a great deal of thought and effort into committing his sin, and then he
went to even greater trouble to cover his sin. In fact, the events in his life
read more like a Oliver Stone script than a Bible story. When the smoke finally
cleared, two people were dead and two families destroyed. However, the most
amazing fact about this story is that this didn’t ruin the man. He was able to
recover from his mistakes and get back on his feet.
2.
You might have already guessed: the man
I’m talking about is King David. He’s the same one who as a teenager killed
Goliath, and later wrote the most recognizable passage in the Bible, "The
Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want."
3.
This is the story. One evening, King David
had a hard time going to sleep, so he went out on the balcony of his palace to
take a walk. Off in the distance he saw a beautiful woman named Bethsheba
taking a bath. When he found out that her husband, Uriah, was a soldier and was
away at war, David sent for her and seduced her. Sometime later she told him
that she was going to have a baby. In an attempt to cover his tracks, David had
Uriah brought in from the battlefield for a time of "R&R". David
suggested that Uriah go home and spend time with his wife. Uriah politely
refused; going home to his wife during a time of war would have been an act of
disloyalty to his fellow soldiers. Since Uriah couldn’t be persuaded to
compromise, David sent him back to battle with a letter to deliver to the
commanding officer. Uriah didn’t know it, but he was delivering his own death
warrant. The letter told the CO to put Uriah on the front lines and withdraw
the other troops so Uriah would be sure to die. This is exactly what happened.
Uriah was killed in battle and David married Bethsheba.
4.
No one in Israel knew the story behind the
story, but the Bible says, in 2 Samuel 11:27
that…The Lord was very displeased with what David had done.
5.
It wasn’t long before a prophet named
Nathan confronted David with his sin. David knew that he had done wrong, and
I’m sure that deep down he knew he couldn’t get away with it. To make matters
worse, David and Bethsheba’s newborn child was very sick, and Nathan said it
was all David’s fault. He said to David, "Because of what you have done,
this baby is going to die." Imagine how David felt about that! He couldn’t
hide it any longer. He had blown it in a big way, and now it was time to face
the music.
6.
David did face the music. He made things
right with God and got his life back on track. At some point during this time,
he wrote Psalm 51. This Psalm is all about
"What To Do When You’ve Blown It."
We can learn from David’s example how to make things right whenever we make a
little or big mistake. When that happens, we often make the mistake of thinking
that God hates us because of what we’ve done. The truth is, He loves us no
matter what. When we sin, even when we sin big, He wants to forgive us and help
us get back on our feet.
TODAY,
WE'RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT "WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU'VE BLOWN IT" AND HOW
TO GET BACK ON THE RIGHT TRACK WITH GOD, WITH OTHERS, AND WITH YOURSELF.
I.
FIRST, GETTING BACK ON TRACK REQUIRES A CHANGE OF HEART.
1. In
the first two verses of Psalm 51, David begs for
forgiveness, then says…
(v. 3-4) For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always
before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your
sight.
2. David
was guilty and he knew it. He couldn’t deny his wrongdoing any longer. He could
only confess to God and ask forgiveness.
ILLUSTRATION:
Not to long ago basketball star Dennis
Rodman made the headlines when he kicked a cameraman during a basketball game.
Luckily for Rodman, he escaped criminal charges and got by with just an 11 game
suspension and a $200,000 payout to his victim. A few days after the incident
Rodman discussed the event in an interview, and his attitude reflected anything
but a change of heart. In fact, he insisted that what he had done wasn’t all
that bad. He said that he himself was the victim in this whole ordeal, since he
was being forced to pay money only because he’s rich. After all, he said, he
just gave the guy a little tap. He must have forgotten that everyone saw the
footage of the assault. The bottom line was, even after the payout and the
suspension, Dennis Rodman didn’t believe he had done anything wrong.
3. We’re
often that way about our own sin. We try to justify it and pretend that it’s
not so bad. We try to explain why it isn’t really sin. As long as we keep this
defiant attitude we can never get completely right with God. Getting right with
God requires a change of heart.
ILLUSTRATION:
Jim Bakker’s book is titled "I Was
Wrong." In the book, he admits not only to moral failure, but also
acknowledges that he led many people astray by teaching theological error. He
describes himself during that time of his life as ambitious and self-serving,
and considered himself above consequences. When he wound up in prison—alone,
broke and abandoned, he experienced a change of heart. He reached a point where
he was truly sorry for his sins.
4. When
we stop protecting our sins, and confess them, we not only regain a better
relationship with God but we also feel better about ourselves.
5.
In Psalm 32, listen to the inward
struggle that David went through while protecting his sins.
"When
I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon
me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer" (vs. 3-4).
a.
Due to his
unconfessed sins, David was miserable.
It sounds as though he was depressed and guilt ridden.
b. But a dramatic thing happened in (v5).
"Then
I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to
the LORD”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin."
6. Once
David admitted to God that he was wrong, and that he had sinned, he experienced
inward healing. His guilt was taken
away. He received forgiveness!
7. Likewise,
we can experience inward healing, and feel better about ourselves if we would
just stop hiding behind prideful hearts and openly confess our sins to
God.
8. If
we want to get our lives back on track, then we must first change our hearts
and confess our sins to God.
II.
SECOND, GETTING BACK ON TRACK REQUIRES A CHANGE OF MIND.
1. Have
you ever noticed that we gladly take credit for our accomplishments, but we
often blame our failures on extenuating circumstances? For example, how many times
have you heard someone say something like, "I’m sorry I lost my temper.
It’s because I’m so tired…or I’m under pressure…or you were getting on my
nerves.
2. Our
natural tendency is to blame someone or something else whenever we fail. It’s not always easy to accept
responsibility for our failures, but we have to if we want to get our lives
back on track. We have to change our mind about who is in control of our life.
We have to stop blaming others and accept responsibility for our actions.
ILLUSTRATION:
In 1980 New York City Mayor Ed Koch
appeared on a local news program in the middle of the city’s financial crisis.
Koch had spent over a quarter of a million dollars to put up bike lanes in
Manhattan, and they turned out to be a disaster. Cars were driving in the bike
lanes, pedestrians were walking in the them, and bikers were getting crowded
out. It was a mess and many people in New York were irate about it. Koch was
coming up for re-election, so a handful of journalists cornered him on this
show, planning to tear him to pieces for spending money foolishly when the city
was nearly broke. One reporter said, "Mayor, in light of the financial
difficulties New York City is facing, how could you possibly justify wasting
$300,000 on bike lanes?"
The stage was set for a half-hour
confrontation. Instead, Koch said, "It was a terrible idea. I thought it
would work, but it didn’t. It was one of the worst mistakes I ever made."
Then he stopped. None of the other journalists knew what to say or do. They
were expecting him to squirm and make excuses, but he didn’t even try. The next
journalist stammered and said, "But Mayor Koch, how could you do
this?" Koch said, "I already told you. It was a stupid idea. It
didn’t work." Then he stopped. There was still 26 minutes left to go on
the news show, and the reporters had to find something else to talk about. The
last thing they expected that day was for the mayor take responsibility for his
actions. Ultimately, of course, Koch went on to receive both the Democratic and
the Republican endorsements for re-election.
3. The
principle here is that we have to change our mind about who is in control of
our lives. We cannot blame our sin on anyone else. We cannot blame our sin on
the Devil. We are responsible for our
own lives. It does no good to say, "I am a victim of my environment, or a
victim of my circumstances, or a victim of genealogy, or a victim of bad
luck."
a. David
could have said, "It was Bethsheba’s fault—look what she was wearing at
the time." Or he could have blamed God. Or he could have blamed his others
wives (yes, wives—he had hundreds of them) for not being sensitive to his
needs. He could have placed blame in several different areas, but he realized
that it was now time to take responsibility for his actions and take back
control of his life. That’s why he said…
In (vs. 4) of Psalm 51, "Against you, you only have I
sinned…"
4. David
was saying, "I am responsible for my actions. I can’t blame anyone but
myself." Getting back on track requires a change of heart, a change of
mind.
III.
LASTLY, GETTING BACK ON TRACK REQUIRES A CHANGE OF DIRECTION.
1. David’s
life got off track because he started doing things his way and going his own
direction. Suddenly, he recognized that things had skidded out of control, and that
he needed to make things right. He also realized that he couldn’t do it without
God’s help. Listen to his words…
(v. 7-12) Cleanse me…wash me…blot out all my iniquity…create
in me a clean heart…renew a steadfast spirit within me.
2. We
can mess things up on our own without anyone’s help, but it takes an act of God
to get us back on track. We must depend on Him to cleanse us, and wash us, and
forgive us. Too often we are guilty of trying to clean ourselves up and make
ourselves "good" so that we will be acceptable to God—and that is
simply not acceptable to God! There is only way I can come to God—"Just
As I Am." When we come to Him this way, He
is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1John
1:9).
3. Getting
back on track requires a change of direction—where we stop going our way and
start going His way. And what does it mean to "go God’s way"? It
means that we…
a. Spend
time alone with God on a consistent basis. David said, "Do
not cast me from your presence" because he recognized that
spending time is what gives our lives direction.
b. Be
filled with the Holy Spirit. David said, "Do not take your Holy Spirit
from me," because he recognized that we
need the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives to overcome the power of sin.
c. Ask
God to give us a sense of joy. David said, "Restore
to me the joy of your salvation," because he recognized that a
relationship with God is supposed to make you happy, not miserable. We can’t
get back on track if we think that serving God is torture.
d. Ask
for the power to be consistent. David said, "Grant
me a willing spirit to sustain me," because he
recognized that we can’t be changed if we’re not willing to be changed on an
on-going basis.
e. Look
for the chance to help others. David said, "Then
I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will turn back to you"
because he recognized the Good News is worth sharing with others.
CONCLUSION:
1. A
change of heart. A change of mind. A change of direction. Do you know what all of
this adds up to? Repentance. When we blow it, we need to repent. Some people
think that repentance is feeling guilty, but I’ve got "bad news" for
those people: feeling guilty isn’t enough. There’s more to repentance than just
feeling bad. Of course, when we sin we do feel guilty. That’s natural. But if
you feel guilty too long, you haven’t really repented. Repentance
removes guilt. When David asked for God’s forgiveness he also asked
God to restore the joy of salvation. Repentance results in joy.
If you’ve blown it, you need to get past feeling guilty and get back on track.
Ask God to help you change your heart, and change your mind, and change your
direction.
2. "If
you have blown it," this morning you can make things right with God and
your fellow man. By repenting of sins,
and being baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, you can walk out of this
place today a new, regenerated, revived, refreshed, and reinvigorated, man or
woman of God. If the Lord is urging you
to come forward, don't turn away, come now as we stand and sing.