Do you know that the Christian life, the Christian living contains a life of celebration and confession? Just to bring to mind, think about the joyous of the Christian life. The fact that you have been chosen by God before the foundation of the world. You being saved by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ alone. And then you being secured in the blood of Jesus Christ forever. And the fact that you don't fear as a Christian, as a believer, the fact that you don't fear death, because you know what is waiting for you, what God is preserving for you. Now, what do you do with all these divine benefits that are yours in Christ Jesus as a believer? I think when you hear about these divine benefits, that you have possessed through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, you should celebrate and rejoice. My friends, the essential character of our worship should be joy, and joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But we are also a sober-minded people. As Christians, as believers, we are called to live with a clear head, with a clear understanding, and with a clear and sensitive heart, with a recognition of sin in our own life and in this fallen world. our own spiritual condition and what we see happening around us. Around us in this world today is an important reminder for us that sin is indeed real and is demanding man's true communion with God through faith and repentance. Now, when we look into the book of Psalms, there are two characters that we see in the life of the psalmist. I'm especially referring to King David, the psalmist. We see two characters in his life. First, King David was a worshiper. He was a joyous worshiper of God. When you read and meditate on the book of Psalms, you will see King David celebrating God. Celebrating God and His being and His attributes. You will see him celebrating God's work of creation. You will see him celebrating God's work of divine providence. You will see him celebrating the salvation that God has bestowed to him by faith. But you will also see the psalmist King David being conscious, being aware, being mindful of his own sin. He always recognizes that he worships a holy God. But remember, not only King David, but this has been the distinct character of men in the Old Testament. The two characters, awareness of sin and then the importance of confession, were the two characters of men and women in the Bible. The prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 6, 5, approaching the presence of God, approaching the glory of God, he said, Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Isaiah, when he saw the reflection of God's glory, he pronounced judgment on his own life and on the people of Israel to whom he was sent. I am lost. because I have seen the glory of God. Paul himself in Romans 7, 24, referring to his own life and his own sinfulness. He said, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? You see, both, David and Paul and Isaiah. You know, these three men, the best of us all, should cause us to see or understand Christianity as a life of celebration and confession. Think about the prophet Isaiah. He was the one who prophesied many, many years ago about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, about the light of the gospel that was coming to us through the appearance, through the coming of God in the flesh. Paul was the one who exalted the sovereignty of God over creation and over salvation of the elect. And yet, these two men, we see them repenting, we see them confessing of their sin before the Lord. My friends, David was like them. Here in Psalm 51, we see him confessing and celebrating. But tonight we'll focus on his confession for our instruction. And we see three characters of true confession that we learn from King David. The first thing that we see in his repentance, in his true repentance, is his recognition of sin. And the second lesson that we learn from his repentance, from his true confession, is his view of God. And then the third thing that we'll learn from him is his prayer to God. So let me start with the first one. His recognition of sin. Now from the outset, you need to know that this psalm was not written at the immature moment of David's life. Psalm 51 was written in the high point of his life. It was written at the time that King David was enjoying God's blessings in his life. He was enjoying divine benefits in his life. But there was one problem in his life. Remember, God called David a man after my own heart. King David hated sin. He fought against sin as every servant of God would do. But there was one problem in his life. He had a problem with women. He committed adultery with Bathsheba. And he covered, he concealed his sin over a year until the prophet came to him and confronted him about his sin. And remember how he was confronted by the prophet. In 2nd Samuel 11, 27, the Bible says, But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. In chapter 12 verse 9, the prophet asked him, Why have you despised the word of the Lord? The question was not, why have you despised this woman? Why have you despised your servant, Uriah? The question was, why have you despised the word of the Lord, the very law of God that commanded you not to commit adultery? And David's response was, I have sinned against the Lord. Notice verse 17, what happened to King David. The sacrifice of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Oh God, you will not despise. You see, the result of his confession, the result of his humility, And his admission of his own sin was verse 17. He became a man with a broken and contrite heart. When he was confronted about his sin, he was broken before God. And he said, I have sinned against the Lord. Now notice how he started his confession. In verse one, he said, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love. The first thing that King David recognized in his confession, that he knew his sin deserves judgment. That was the first recognition. That was the first element of his confession. And because of that, you see, you see him appealing to the mercy and the grace and the justice of God. But first and foremost, you see, he's appealing to the mercy of God. He recognized that the only way that he can be forgiven, the only way that he would receive forgiveness in his life, is he would appeal to God's mercy. Why is that? Because he cannot appeal to God's righteous judgment. He cannot appeal to merit. He cannot appeal to the law of God, because he will be condemned. He cannot appeal to personal achievement. You see his attitude towards worship? His attitude towards confession? It was appealing to God's mercy. My brothers and sisters, every Lord's Day, We join our hearts as a body of Jesus Christ and we confess our sins together before the Lord. Do you know that is a very important part of our worship service. If you don't use that time to confess your sins before the Lord in the same way that David did, then you are not approaching the presence of God as a true repentant sinner. He appealed to God's mercy. His prayer of confession was in the presence of God. The heart and soul of true believer to come to the grip with unworthiness. When we come to the worship of the holy God, you see, we come with a sense of unworthiness. And in our confession, we say to God, I'm not worthy. I'm a sinner. So I'm appealing to your mercy. This is sometimes today's worship in the church of Jesus Christ with very little time of confession. But we need to learn from King David. Confession, true confession should be part of our life. It was Martin Luther once he said that the whole Christian life is about repentance. even after salvation, even after we receive redemption through Jesus Christ, our Savior. You see, our whole Christian life is about recognizing our own sin before the Holy God. Psalm 103 10. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. My friends, if we receive what we deserve, we all will perish forever. King David knew that. thirty verse three. If you O Lord should mark iniquities O Lord who could stand? No one would stand if the Lord would count and mark our iniquity. David knew the weight of God's judgment. I think great illustration The prophet Daniel in Daniel chapter 9 verse 4. He was praying, he was confessing his own sin and the sin of the nation of Israel. And this is how he prayed. Now remember this is a prayer of confession. I pray to the Lord my God and made confession saying, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. Now listen to this. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness. See what Daniel is saying? To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness. You are righteous. You are holy. You are perfect. But to us, open shame. That's true confession. To you belongs righteousness. To us belongs shame. Is that how you approach God? Is that how you confess of your sin? Is that how you recognize your own sin before the Lord? To you belongs righteousness, and to me, shame. So I'm pleading for mercy. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us, open shame, because we have sinned against you. because he deserves God's judgment. You see, he only pleads to mercy. This is a believer's plea, not because God's eternal domination, but because of divine discipline. You see, David realized that he was under divine discipline because of his sin. He recognized that God was dealing with him seriously. And divine mortification was taking place in his life. He knew that. And then the second thing that he recognized was he understood his personal guilt. Listen verse 2 and 3. David said, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. You see, King David is not referring to anyone now. He's not accusing Bathsheba. He's not accusing the prophet. You see, verse two and three are full of my, my, my, my sin, my iniquity, my guilty. What is David doing? David is taking responsibility for his own sin. You see, he's accepting responsibility. He blames no one. What does this remind you? The Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve committed sin, when they broke the law of God, God came to the garden. And everyone was blaming everyone. The woman said, it is the serpent. Adam said, it is the woman who created for me. Basically, Adam was blaming God. You created this woman for me and this is what she has done. She seduced me and I committed sin. You see, in the garden of Eden, no one would admit his own sin. No one would take responsibility. No wonder why God expelled man from the garden. Because the man was not willing to take responsibility for his sin. You see, Bathsheba was not innocent. But David never blamed Bathsheba. There are times in our Christian life, you see, when we commit sin, we blame other people. When we commit adultery, we might blame our wives. Well, she was not available for me. She didn't do her duty as a wife. And here I am, I fall into sin. I blame my wife. No, that is not true repentance. You take responsibility for your own sin. David said, I have sinned against the Lord. This is my sin. This is my personal sin. I take responsibility oh lord. Wash me clean. Have mercy on me. I plead to your grace, to your mercy. You see he understood his own sin. He also understood that he was a sinner from conception. Verse five, David said, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. This is so powerful. This verse shows you that everyone was born inheriting sin from Adam. From conception, man is a sinner. My friends, sin is not sickness. Sin is not illness. We inherit sin from Adam. Romans 5, 12, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and does through sin, and so does spread to all men, because all sinned. Peter understood this when he saw Jesus Christ coming towards him before even Jesus said anything to him. In Luke chapter five, Peter said this, depart from me for I am a sinful man. Peter, Jesus never said anything to him. The moment he saw Jesus, he recognized that he was a sinful man. And he said, depart from me, O Lord. I'm a sinner. And the second lesson, David's view of God. David's confession did not end on this. You see, his confession did not end in realizing what sin is. You see, that's one part of confession. Knowledge of sin, recognition of sin. You see, you understand the ugliness of sin. But that's only one part of confession. Simply because you recognize sin in your own life doesn't mean that you are confessing. knowing that his sin deserves judgment, knowing that he was conceived in sin was not a complete confession. For your confession to be completed, you need to confess truly and from the bottom of your heart. You see, sometimes as Christians, we say things, well, what can I do? That's who I am. I can't change it. No. By the grace of God, you are called to mortify your sinful nature. You can't blame God. You can't blame God for the fact that you have been born in sin and transgression of the law of God. When the Holy Spirit comes to your life, and gives you that regeneration, that new life in Christ Jesus. When you are adopted as a child of God and the Holy Spirit starts his work of sanctification in your life as a Christian, you are called to hate sin and love righteousness. And you are called to mortify your sinful nature by the power of the Holy Spirit. So it is required from a believer. What is required from a believer is true confession. So David needed more, more than recognizing sin in his life. He needed more because he was approaching the Holy God. You need to understand this very, very carefully. Listen to what he says in verse six. Behold, you delight in truths, in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. You see what David is saying now? He's saying, God, what really matters for you is my heart. You want to see change in my inner body, in my heart. True change, real change. You want me to hate sin, truly. You want me to confess my sin, truly. You want to see true repentance in my life. But He knew, that that was something that he cannot do it by his own strengths. You can't change your heart. You can't renew your heart. You don't have the power. You can only pray. You can only appeal to God's grace. You can only appeal to the power of the Holy Spirit. It's about a change that takes place in your inner heart. It is God, you see, who cleanse you. You don't cleanse your own heart. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. So for that reason, in verse 7, David said, purge me with a hyssop. A hyssop was a plant. And the Israelites, when they go to the temple, they use this plant for cleansing. So he was using the language of the temple. And now he's pleading with God. He's asking God, use that plant and wash me clean. Cleanse me. I'm not going to do it by myself. I don't have the strength. It is not my power to cleanse my heart. But I want God to work in my heart. Do it for me. Isaiah 1 18. Though your sins are like a scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like a crimson, they shall become like a wool. Who does that? God does that for you. You can't cleanse your heart, but God can cleanse your heart. And that's what it means, you see, to repent truly, but not only the power to cleanse. You see, God not only cleansed our heart, but notice what the psalmist recognized in his life in verses eight and nine. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and plot out all my iniquity. Now he's pleading for willingness. God is the one who cleanses your heart and God is the one who gives you the willingness to repent truly. Renew my heart. Give me a willingness to repent. and recognize my own sin. This is consistent with the nature of God. Restoration. Remember, David didn't lose his salvation. He was still a believer. He committed sin being a believer. He didn't lose his salvation. What he lost was gladness, joy of salvation. Restore gladness back to my heart, back to my life. Let me rejoice. Let me have that gladness. Do not take away your Holy Spirit from me. He was a king in Israel. And God gave to men like David, you see, the anointing of his Holy Spirit. That's how he administered, you see, the giving of the Spirit in the Old Testament with men like David. So there was a time that God would take his Spirit away from these men, especially when they commit sin. And now he's pleading with God, do not take away your spirit from me. Restore the joy of my salvation. He was forgiven. Because he repented truly. His repentance was a repentance of a true believer. You see, the prophet told him, You are the man. You are the one who committed this serious sin before the Lord. And David said, I have sinned against the Lord. And then the prophet said to him, the Lord has put away your sin. I remember one time I was witnessing to a man back home in Eritrea. And he came to this event, to this incident, to this narrative where God forgave David, just like that. And the man said to me, he committed adultery, he killed Uriah, he was responsible for the death of Uriah. And your God, He just passes over his sin. And the man said an argument. He used a word like, this is unconventional. This is highly unfair. But when the Bible says, God forgave David. Does it mean God just ignored the sin of the king? Is that what it means? I think we need to go to the book of Romans chapter three. Verse 21 to 25, and I will show you what exactly took place in the life of King David and in the life of those who repent their sin truly. Romans 3, 21 to 25. Listen to these words carefully. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Now listen to this. And are justified by grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. Paul is referring to Jesus Christ and he's showing you God put his son forward to become the substitute, to take a place. So that the just God would justify the sinner. For me, this is what I call outrageous. Not the other one. The just God justified the unjust, the sinner. What is that? That's God's love. That's God's mercy. Yes, David sinned against God, against Bathsheba, and against Uriah. But his repentance was true. It was a true repentance of a believer. And when we repent truly, my friends, God will forgive our sins and he will renew our heart and our willingness and our spirit so that we would respond towards him. Isaiah 43, 25, I am he who plots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. You see, God is saying, once I forgive you, I will not remember your sin. God is not like us. People offend us, people hurt us, and even after we forgive them, we always remember what they did against us. We always tell them you did this at this time and you did this now. We don't, we don't let it go. That's not the nature of God. I forgive you and I will remember, I will not remember it again. You see, God doesn't say, you know, I will pretend as if it never happened. That's us. We do that with our children all the time, okay? I will pass this wrongdoing, you know, I will pretend as if it didn't happen. That's not God. God never treats His children in that way. He truly forgives our sin. My grandmother, she was a very strict woman, very strict grandma. I remember when I was young, myself and my siblings, my grandmother had a small notebook like what I have here. And she always, you see, records our sins on that notebook. And whenever we commit sin or disobey our parents, she brings her notebook and she calls my name, come, come, Zaki. You see, this is what you did on this day. This is, you know, everything is record. I love my mother, but she never understood God's forgiveness. That's not God. If God forgives our sin, he will never remember it again. He's a God of love. He's a God of mercy. Now notice David's prayer in verse 13. His prayer is so wonderful and is very instructive for us, the people of God. In verse 13, King David prayed this prayer. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you. What is this? His relationship with, you know, towards sinners, towards transgressors of the law of God. David is saying, now I'm forgiven. You see, I will go to the transgressors around me, my neighbors, people whom I know in the town, I will go to them. And I will share the forgiveness of my sins with them. I will share this good news that I'm a forgiven sinner. And because of my testimony, they will return back to you in repentance. I will use the forgiveness of my sins as the testimony for you. I'll go to the transgressors. And He even used the word, and sinners will return to you. I'll preach repentance. and I will preach the forgiveness of sins and sinners will return to you. I will declare your praise to all and verse 16 and 17 David said, for you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burned offering. The sacrifice of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Oh God, you will not despise. Now his forgiveness, his pardon in relation to his relationship with God, I will offer to you my heart for worship. Because you cleansed my heart, because I now have your forgiveness, I will offer my heart to you. The question to all of us tonight is this, whenever you come to the house of the Lord, every Lord's Day, you come to the house of the Lord, Do you come with the intention of offering your heart to God? I'll go to the house of the Lord and offer my heart to the one who forgave my sins. Do you come to the house of the Lord to do that? You see, David did that. Not external, not ritual. I will offer my heart to you. True worship requires the renewal of the heart. In Romans chapter 12, Paul said, Be confirmed with the renewal of your heart. Be holy. Bring worship that is acceptable in the sight of God. That's true worship. And finally, in verses 18 and 19, his relationship with the church. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. then will you delight in the right sacrifices, in burned offerings, and all burned offerings, then bulls will be offered on your altar. His relationship with Zion. Zion here is the church. Now let me tell you what David is doing here. David is saying, I repented my sin before you for the sake of your church. Let me emphasize it more and more. If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, if you are a member of Covenant Presbyterian Church, and you always live with an repented sin, you don't repent truly and from the heart, you don't take a responsibility for your own sin, your personal sin, You stop blaming others, but you confess before the Lord, this is my sin, have mercy on me, cleanse me, wash me clean by the blood of your son Jesus Christ, you will become a blessing to this church. But if you just go on, go on with your sin, unrepenting sin, you will be a hindrance of God's blessing to the church of Jesus Christ. It was the reformer Martin Luther once said, the Church of Jesus Christ is not a museum for saints, but it is a hospital for sinners. There is no perfection in the Church of Jesus Christ, but there must be repentance, true repentance in the Church of Jesus Christ. Not only for the sake of your relationship with God, But for the sake of your testimony, and for the sake of the blessing of God on the ministry of the church of Jesus Christ, be mindful of your sin. Take responsibility for your own sin. Especially as we welcome the new year, my brothers and sisters in Christ, with the love of Christ, I encourage you to enter this new year by repenting your sin truly. Then God will renew your heart. God will bless you individually, and God will bless Covenant Presbyterian Church for his glory and for the influence of all people around us with the good news of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, thank you for the reminder of your word. Thank you for calling us to Recognize that we are sinners, we are sinful. And He want us to repent truly. Help us to follow the example of King David in our own life. To recognize our sin truly and with humility. Take responsibility of our own sinfulness. To stop blaming others. but blame our own life and appeal to your mercy. May this pattern, may this kind of life, a life that celebrates the work of salvation of you, our God, and a life that recognizes that sin is a problem, sin offend you and repent before you. Grant us that life of repentance and obedience. Help us to be mindful of our own sin, especially as we enter this new year. Help us to remember that our sin can hurt other people around us, and our sin can be a hindrance in the ministry of your church. So help us to love repentance through repentance, and come to you to ask you to wash us clean by the blood of your son, Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.