If you have your Bible with you tonight, we're turning to 2 Samuel chapter 11. We do have two Bible readings tonight. I want to commence at 2 Samuel chapter 11. May I thank the brethren for singing for us this evening and for pointing our hearts and minds to that great day when we shall see the Lord and we shall be with him and be like him. It's always a great theme to ponder and to meditate upon. And we do want to welcome you tonight as well. We do appreciate your support. nights of these special meetings and in the prayer times too, we value that immensely. It's always very encouraging for those who are preaching to come and to hear people pray that the Lord will bless his word to our hearts and we know that even though some can't come to the prayer time, they're remembering us during the day in preparation for the night services and we thank you for that immensely. We do pray the Lord will continue to hear and answer the cries of our hearts. As I mentioned, we have two Bible readings tonight. We're commencing at 2 Samuel chapter 11. This is a very grim chapter, not the kind of chapter we like to read at all, but it's very important we do note the details of the chapter. The second passage I want to turn to is Psalm 51. It takes place some months later in David's life when he begins to cry to God, and the Lord has mercy upon him. But the two chapters are connected, and I want to take the time to read verses from both of them tonight, and then we want to come to Psalm 51 as we turn to the Lord's Word. But 2 Samuel chapter 11. Let us hear the Lord's Word and begin at verse one of the chapter. And it came to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabba. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an even tide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite? And David sent messengers and took her, and she came in unto him. And he lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness, and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child. And David sent to Joab, saying, send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, go down to thy house and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house. And there followed him a mass of meat from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. And when they had told David saying, Uriah went not down unto his house. David said, Unto Uriah, camest thou not from thy journey? Why then didst thou not go down unto thine house? And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah abide in tents, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, and camped in the open fields. Shall I then go into mine house to eat, and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. And David said to Uriah, tarry here today also, and tomorrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day and the morrow. And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him, and he made him drunk. And that even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his Lord, but went not down to his house. And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter saying, set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retire you from him that he may be smitten and die. And it came to pass when Joab observed the city that he assigned Uriah onto a place where he knew the valiant men were. And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab and there fell some of the people of the servants of David and Uriah the Hittite died also. And then Psalm 51. Psalm 51, written some months after the events we've just been reading in 2 Samuel chapter 11. David is the writer here, and you'll see in the title of the psalm, it's a psalm of David to the chief musician, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. So we're left in no doubt here that this psalm is related to the events back there in 2 Samuel chapter 11. David's a prayer. He says, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 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 judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice, Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thy God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thy desire is not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thy delight is not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, and a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem, Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. Amen, we pray tonight the Lord will bless the public reading of his word to us, our hearts. It's verse seven of Psalm 51 that I want to come to. Perdue the hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. The theme that I want to draw your attention to tonight is the theme of spiritual recovery and the essentials of spiritual recovery as we find them in Psalm 51. as expressed here by David as he comes before the Lord in this time of very solemn prayer. With our Bibles open there, let's seek the Lord together in a further word of prayer together. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we come into thy holy presence tonight with gladness in our hearts that thou has brought us into thy house. Lord, we are thankful for all thy workings in our lives tonight and throughout this day that finds us here We think, Lord, of many things that could have taken place that would have prevented us from being in the house of the Lord this evening. But thou has ordered everything to come together to this time that we can sit now with thy word before us. And Lord, I pray for the help and the power of thy spirit in this service tonight. Lord, we have read very solemn portions from thy word. And we pray tonight that solemnity of them would not be lost on us, Lord, we ask that thou will do a searching work in all of our hearts, from the pulpit to the pew, that thou will have a word in season for us, that thou will do a gracious work tonight in hearts. We've been singing already about that closer walk with God, and the dearest idols we know being taken from thy throne, that blessedness that we knew in past days being restored, Lord, let that be the case, we pray. Meet with us tonight and bless us, and bless thy word, fill me with thy spirit. Give help in the preaching, give help in the hearing, and give help in the application of thy word by thy spirit tonight. May we not just be hearers of the word, but doers of the word as well. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Psalm 51 is the prayer of a backslider who has come to understand something of the awfulness of his sin against the Lord. I think at the very outset tonight we should understand that these are not the words of an actor. These are not polished statements that have been rehearsed for some kind of public performance. They are not textbook phrases that have been adopted and used just to please those who would read them. Rather, these are the hard cries. of a broken man of God. When David first spoke these words, he was facing up to the awful reality of his own sin. Several months earlier, he had lusted after another man's wife, and in the aftermath of that adultery, he went on to have her husband killed so that he could continue on with his wicked ways. It is, in every sense of the word, a dreadful time in David's life. terrible case of sin in the life of a believer. As you read through 2 Samuel chapter 11, it's almost incredible that we're reading of the life of a believer, and yet we are. And we ought to understand tonight that we are capable, even as God's people, of the worst kinds of sin. David's sin at that time had particular aggravations to it. For example, he committed those sins despite the innumerable blessings of God. God had enriched his servant over many years. He had taken this man from looking after a few sheep in the wilderness and made him keen over Israel. He had helped him establish the kingdom. He was with him when he fought against the Lord's enemies. He preserved him when Saul would have slaughtered him. He brought faithful men to stand with David and made him to be one of the outstanding leaders in the nation of Israel. David could never have argued that he was a disadvantaged man. Quite the opposite, 2 Samuel 12 in verse 8 records David reminding him that I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. God had dealt with David liberally. He had enriched him in every possible way. And yet, despite all of those blessings, which were all of grace, David sinned against God. It was as if God's mercies counted for nothing with him. He rebelled or he revolted against the goodness of God. And David had been showing here a shocking spirit of ingratitude towards God. And there are times we too are guilty of that. We sin despite a similar bounty of divine blessings. Isn't it true that God has been good to us? Isn't it true that he has provided for us? Isn't it the case that his mercies are new every morning? Isn't it the case, believer, that God has given Christ to be our Savior, and in Christ we are blessed beyond measure? because of Christ we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ and he is promised by his grace and according to the riches of his glory in Christ to meet all our needs in him. Yet what do we do? We sin against him. We turn to our own way and we do that which is right in our own eyes. And surely such a response to the mercies of God and the Goodness of God to our souls adds to the aggravation of our sin against. Furthermore, David sinned in such a way at this time that God was blasphemed. That's the testimony of Nathan the prophet in 2 Samuel 12 and verse 14. Nathan had been sent by God to confront David regarding his sin. And in that exchange that he has with David, he tells him that by this deed, Nathan tells David, by this deed thou has given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. That little phrase, great occasion, thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord, is a very interesting phrase. It means that David's actions had enabled the hatred men have for God to flourish. It was as if his sin had strengthened them in their sin. These enemies of the Lord, they had looked at David, the man of God, the spiritual giant, the divinely appointed king of Israel, the one who was passionate about keeping the law of God in the land. But here he was guilty of adultery, guilty of murder, and they scorned God or they mocked God because of him. Their hatred of God flourished even more when they looked at what David had done in his life at this time. His actions gave them an excuse to blaspheme the Lord's name. The sins of God's people give men fuel to mock God. They ask, you know, when they see the child of God fall into horrendous sin, into open sin, they ask, what kind of God is this? What kind of religion is this? What kind of life do those Christians really live? They're really no better than me, and what they're doing is they're flourishing in their hatred of God. The ungodly knows the Christian is different and should live differently. He holds the Christian to a higher standard than he holds himself, and therefore our sin opens the door for them to scorn the Savior. Moreover, David's sin was particularly aggravating because it was against the direct command of God. It was impossible for David to plead ignorance over these things. God's law was clear, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill. And as the king, David would have written that law out. It was one of the things that God had said in the book of Deuteronomy, when a king was appointed, he was to write out the law of God. So David was neither uninformed or misinformed about the law of God, and yet he broke it. Second Samuel 12 puts it, he despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight. David knew the law of God, yet he despised it. There was a defiance of God in all of this. He defied divine commandments, and he broke the law of God. And believer, that's what we do when we sin against the Lord. Our sins are against him. It was a very serious time in David's life. He had sinned in a horrendous way, and he had continued in that sin for several months. It seems that he lived on, at least outwardly lived on, as if nothing was wrong. Life went on for him. Things in the kingdom had to be taken care of. Life in the palace had to go on, and outwardly it did. But David was far from happy. He was troubled. His sin was before him. The chastening hand of God was upon him. He had lost his joy. His peace was affected. His strength was gone. And David was learning, though inwardly at this time and having not made an open confession of his sin, he was learning that sin comes at a heavy price. And it does for the believer. God will not let us sin without dealing with us. Just because we are under grace as far as salvation is concerned does not mean that we can sin with indifference. It's one of the evidences of the new birth and the fact that David was truly a man of God. It's one of the evidence when we read that he was a troubled man. But it wasn't until God sent Nathan to him that he openly acknowledged and confessed his sin and prayed to be cleansed from it. And that's where we hear the hard cries of a broken man. When David says here in verse three, I acknowledge my transgressions. He was at last facing up to his sin. No more running away from it. No more hiding from it, no more trying to cover it, no more denying it, no more pretending. David had sinned and now he was acknowledging that sin before God. But it doesn't stop there, for this is a chapter of spiritual recovery. It's a chapter of hope. It's a chapter of grace, it's a chapter of mercy, it's a chapter of change, a chapter of sanctification, it's a chapter of restoration, and therefore it's perfectly suited to the needs of God's people. What happens when a child of God falls into a backslidden state? Our sin may not be the same as David's sin. But there are times in the believer's life when he falls into a backslidden state. He may be guilty of the same sins. He may be guilty of the same sins in his heart, and he allows those sins to linger there. He may be guilty of adultery in his life. He may be given to all kinds of addiction, all kinds of secret sins, all kinds of private sins that he tries to hide from others, and he tries to hide from God. And then he begins to realize his sin, and Satan will come almost immediately with the thought, there's no restoration for you. There's no recovery from this state. You have sinned against the blessings of God. You have sinned against the law of God. Your sins are marred with deep aggravations against Christ, and there's no mercy for you. God will cut you off. But that's not true. Psalm 51 teaches us anything. It is that there is recovery for the backslider. I don't know your heart tonight, but it may be there's someone here in that state describes you. You're not walking with God as once you did, and in your heart of hearts you know that. And maybe Satan has led you to believe there's no way back. So my theme tonight is a very important one, the theme of spiritual recovery. And I want to consider that theme under three particular headings. First of all, let's understand that the Christian's only hope of spiritual recovery lies with God. The Christian's only hope of spiritual recovery lies with God. When David finally faced up to his sin, He began to realize just how damaging, how destructive that sin had been. When he engaged in it back there in 2 Samuel 11, undoubtedly it thrilled him, it brought excitement, it brought exhilaration into his life. There's a throwing of caution to the wind, no regard for the consequences of what he was doing. And it's an interesting, when you read 2 Samuel 11, he sees Bathsheba, he inquires after her, he's told that she's another man's wife. He ought to have stopped there, he ought to have stopped very early on in that whole process. He should never have been there, he should have been with his men in battle. But even though there were obstacles in the way, David tramples over all those obstacles and he takes her and commits adultery with her, with no regard for the consequences. But later when Nathan exposes his sinful behavior, David speaks in terms of being broken. He realized that his sin had well nigh destroyed him. He had lost his joy, he had lost his peace. He's now in despair. He has no strength of his own. He feels himself to be helpless and it may be that he now begins to reason with himself as the spirit of God works in his heart. Who can I turn to now? Where can I go? What is to become of me? Who will help me? Where can I turn? Where is there hope for me in this spiritual state that I'm in? And the only answer lay with God. You see that from verse 1 where he says, have mercy on me, O God. The words of the Psalm are not words from David to one of his royal officers. He's not pleading for help from any of his friends. He's not looking to a priest or the high priest or any of the Levites working in the house of God. His words are directed towards God because he realizes that his hope of spiritual recovery lies with the Lord. For months, David had been looking to himself. It's all about David. It's all about David in 2 Samuel chapter 11. It's all about David in the months that follow 2 Samuel chapter 11. But now it's all about the Lord. Here's a man getting before his God and pleading with God to remember him and restore him. That makes this a very, very moving passage of Scripture. What is happening here is that we are being made privy to the spiritual groans of a backslider who is desperate to bring his case to the Lord and ask for forgiveness and restoration. It's as if we're watching David on his knees in prayer and we're listening to the groans of this man as he comes before God pleading for restoration because he knows only the Lord can restore him. And believer, we must not miss that. If we are really awakened to our sin, And if we have true desires for spiritual recovery, we're desperate to be healed and forgiven and revived, we must deal directly with God himself. There is no hope of spiritual recovery apart from him. I fear sometimes there's a temptation to run to others. We look for answers and help and solutions somewhere else. I'm not talking about someone who comes to a Christian friend and asks them for spiritual counsel. And if that friend is a spiritual person, they're going to appoint them to the Lord. But sometimes believers, when they're in a backslidden state, can go all sorts of directions and all sorts of ways to try and find answers to their need. But they neglect the Lord. Far better for us to come before God and seek his help. This will be a vital step. And we have good reason to seek God for restoration. Satan comes with the idea that God will not be bothered with us, that we cannot be restored, but we have good reason to come, as David did, directly to the Lord and bring our case to him. And I want you to follow me carefully here. The character of God gives us hope of spiritual recovery. the character of God. David knew. David knew that God was just. David knew that God was holy. David knew that God was omnipotent and righteous. But he also knew that God was a God of mercy. Notice how he mentions that at the very beginning of this psalm. He talks about the Lord's mercy. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. In the first verse, he has the word mercy. He has the freest lovingkindness. He has the freest tender mercies. And those words are very important. The word mercy there has the idea of stooping or bending in kindness to an inferior. It speaks of granting favor. The word translated loving kindness refers to love or mercy or pity. The term tender mercies has to do with very tender affections. It has to do with deep love, the kind of love that exists between relations. So see what David is focusing in on here. He knows that God is a God of mercy. He knows that God is a God of loving kindness, a God of tender mercies, a God who has deep love for his own people. He understands that God would show goodness to those who are deep in misery on account of their sin. While he's holy and just and true, and unchangeably so, He's also a God of grace and a God of mercy. That gives us hope when we're backslidden and far from God. It gives us hope, and it means that we can be honest about our sin. It means we can be honest about our sin. Proverbs 28, verse 13 reminds us that he that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. We shall have mercy because God is a God of mercy. We are to bring our sins to him. If it were the case that God was so cruel and so malignant and so unfatherly that he would simply destroy his children because they sin against him, we would run from God. But he's not like that. Our God is full of mercy. He's full of compassion. He pities those who fear him. He promises mercy to the humble and to the penitent and to the brokenhearted. He's not a tyrant who argues two strikes and you're out. Rather, he reminds us that though he hates sin with a holy hatred, he reminds us that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. He's a God who shows mercy even to his sinning people. Believer, that's why you can come with your secret sins to God. That's why you can come with those sins that you wrestle with and you struggle with that beset you time and time and time again. That's why you can bring those sins that you would not dare to talk to anyone else about, you can bring them to the Lord. He's a God of mercy. The character of God gives us hope of spiritual recovery. The covenant of God gives us hope of spiritual recovery too. Our relationship with God as believers is not some weak or dubious or insecure relationship. He has taken us as his children. He has brought us into his family. He has united us to his son. He has given us his spirit and he has made us kings and priests unto himself. We are on covenant terms with God. See how David emphasizes that in the Psalm. Look at verse 11. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. David had the Holy Spirit. Verse 14, he speaks of God there as the God of my salvation. David's sin hadn't changed that. His sin was wicked. His sin was extremely sinful. Gave God's enemies cause to blaspheme. It brought David into a very barren time in his life. It robbed him of his joy. It filled him with trouble. But while David's sin robbed him of his joy, it did not rob him of his God. Our sin is wrong. Our sin is wrong, but it doesn't mean we become unsaved people. Christ has died for our sins, all of our sins, and we are in a covenant relationship with him. I want you to turn with me in your Bible to Jeremiah chapter 3. Jeremiah chapter 3. Look at the words of verse 14. The Lord is speaking to the people, his own people. He says in verse 12, go and proclaim, he says this to Jeremiah, go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, return thy backslide in Israel, saith the Lord. And I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever. There's the thought of the Lord's character. He's a merciful God. Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God and has scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree. And ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you. And I will take you, one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. Turn, O backsliding children, for I am married unto you." What is marriage? It's a covenant. where we are brought into a covenant union with Jesus Christ, a marriage union. Paul speaks that way in Ephesians chapter five. Jeremiah 31 verse three stresses the same thing, that he has loved us with an everlasting love. Hosea chapter 14 verse four. If you ever read the prophecy of Hosea, it's based upon the theme of the covenant relationship between God and his people. Hosea is told to go and marry Gomer. She's a harlot. She goes and commits her wickedness, her sinfulness, and Hosea is told to go and take her back again, and he's teaching the nation that there's a covenant relationship between God and them. And because there is, he tells them in chapter 14 that he will have mercy upon them, he will restore them, he will cleanse them, he will forgive them, because they are in a covenant relationship with God. And tonight the child of God is in a same covenant relationship, and because we are in this union with Jesus Christ, and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ, because that's the key, is there's hope for us when we sin against him. Can a backslider be recovered? Can a believer who has fallen into sin, even the worst of sins, can he be restored? Absolutely, because of Christ and our union with Him. The character of God, the covenant of God, the call of God gives us hope of spiritual recovery. This Psalm, Psalm 51, was preceded by the visit of Nathan the prophet to David. We didn't read into 2 Samuel chapter 12, but if you read that chapter, you'll find that Nathan comes to David and tells him the story of the poor man's lamb. that had been taken and killed. Have you ever wondered why Nathan went to David at all? Why did the prophet go to the king? 2 Samuel 12 verse 1 tells us that God sent him. Nathan means sent, and he was sent by the Lord. So the question is, why did God send him? God sent him so that Nathan would deliver a message that would be used of God in David's heart and bring him to repentance. And he tells him about a lamb that had been killed. And David was angry with the man who had taken that lamb and was applying the law very strongly to that case. And Nathan has to say to him, thou art the man. David breaks out into this prayer of Psalm 51. It was God's call to David to bring him out of his sin. That's why he sent Nathan. God did not let David continue in his sin. He brought him to an end of himself. He dealt with this man. And God will not let his people go on and on and on in sin. He will bring a word to your heart and challenge you. And he does so with the design and the desire that you would repent of that. that he would show you mercy. Our only hope of spiritual restoration is in the Lord. Therefore, believer, we must get before him. We must seek his face. We must acknowledge our sin and recognize that we need his mercy. Strange things sometimes when God's people fall into a backslidden state. We're inclined to blame our circumstances. We're inclined to blame those around us. Sometimes we can imagine that if those things were different, if our circumstances were different, if those around us were different, if things were changed, then we would be in a much better spiritual state. We begin to think if our situation was different from what we're in right now, then we would be revived. What are we actually saying there? We're saying there that our spiritual recovery rests on outward things. But spiritual recovery involves us getting before God, as David does in this psalm. A Christian's only hope of spiritual recovery lies with him. That's why in Psalm 23, the psalmist says, he restoreth my soul. Is that what you need tonight? come before the Lord to stop running from your sin, stop running from Him, stop going on day by day and week by week and maybe now month by month without bringing this matter to the Lord in prayer and asking Him, pleading with Him for His mercy. There is mercy with the Lord and our recovery lies with Him. Notice secondly from the psalm that spiritual recovery requires cleansing from our sin. It's not difficult, I think, to understand and to discover the greatest theme or the greatest burden in the psalm. David is conscious of his sin. It's before him. He testifies that in verse three, my sin is ever before me. He can't deny it. He's unable to live with it anymore. He's ashamed of it now. He senses the, the guilt of that, the defilement that comes from that sin. And as he speaks in these words, in this prayer, it's ever before him and before him now in a way that had not been before him for months. And there's one thing on David's mind. How can I be cleansed? Look at verse one, have mercy upon me. Oh God, according to thy loving kindness. according onto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly from mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Verse seven, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. It doesn't take a genius to know the great weight of those words. David wants to be washed. He wants his sins to be blotted out or to be purged away. He wants to be cleansed from this defilement that has blighted him and plagued him all these months since that time in 2 Samuel chapter 11. And spiritual recovery involves that. The awakened backslider doesn't want to hold on to his sin. He feels defiled by it. He knows it's wrong. He knows it offends God. He knows he has no justification for it. He knows that that sin has robbed him and he wants to be rid of that sin. And so he pleads, he pleads for clemency. I suspect there's not a believer here who has not known that or felt that at some time in their Christian life. I distinctly recall a period in my teenage years, just as I was coming into the free church as a 15 or 16-year-old, sensing my need of spiritual restoration. Outwardly, things looked fine, and no one would have any suggestion or any thought that I was not walking with God, but I knew I was not walking with God. And weeping many a night, for God to have mercy on me. And it hasn't been the only occasion where that's been the prayer of my heart. Some might ask here, but surely when a person is saved, their sins are dealt with, why pray again? Why ask for cleansing? Why ask for pardon? Surely when a person is saved, then their sins are put away. And it's true when a person is saved, they know the putting away of their sin. They are justified and declared righteous in God's sight. They're no longer condemned. We think of our catechism question about justification being an act of God's free grace where he pardoneth all our iniquity and accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ that's received by faith alone. It's imputed to us. And our sins are pardoned and we're accepted righteous in the Lord's sight. We don't lose that justification when we sin against the Lord. But the believer can become defiled and polluted by the presence of sin. And we're being constantly saved from the presence of sin and the sanctifying work of God's grace. And therefore we need to pray for fresh cleansing. We need to pray for washing. We need to pray for pardon. We must come and confess our sin and know the mercy of God in regard to that sin. upon our lives again. There are certain things from the Psalm that sin can only be cleansed by the blood of Christ. Why does David pray in verse 7, purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow? What's he alluding to there, purge me with hyssop? The thought takes us back to the Old Testament ceremonies. When a leper presented himself to the priest, in order to be pronounced clean, a very particular ceremony had to be followed. He had to take two birds and kill one of them over running water, let the blood fall into a vessel of water, and then he had to take the living bird, and together with the hyssop and the cedar wood, he had to dip all of that in the blood-stained water. And then he had to sprinkle the leper seven times with that blood-stained water and pronounce him clean. It was a very elaborate ritual, a very elaborate ceremony. It was a similar ritual for those who had touched a dead body. Blood had to be shed, an animal had to die. There was sprinkling, there was washing in order to pronounce cleansing. That points to Christ. They speak of purification through his blood. Our Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins. He died to make us clean. Hebrews 12, 24 speaks of Christ's blood as the blood of sprinkling. And we know from Hebrews 9 and verse 14 that it's the blood that purges the conscience from dead works. And most of us, I'm sure, are familiar with John's words in 1 John 1, verse 7, that the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us and keeps on cleansing us from all sin. Christ has died for our sins. He has paid the price for them, and his blood cleanses us. Matthew Henry said, if this blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, cleanse us from our sin, then we shall be clean indeed. Believer, this brings us to the cross. And that's where the sinner, it's where the backslider needs to come to. There's no other way to deal with our sin but to come to Christ. Maybe you're not saved in this meeting tonight and you're a stranger to God and God's grace. Realize tonight that Jesus Christ is the sinner's only substitute. Peter tells us he took our sins on his own body to the cross. bearing shame and scoffing rude in my place, condemned he stood and sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah, what a Savior. There is no other Savior. No other way to deal with that load of sin that's on your heart, that guilt that you have. Some try to work their way out of that. Some try to church their way out of that. Some try to give their way out of that. It's all hopeless. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And it's not Christ plus our works. It's not Christ plus the church. It's not Christ plus our efforts. It's Christ alone. Christ has opened a fountain for sin and for unclean. and His blood reveals tonight. We have access to Him as our Savior. He is the only appointed Savior, the only accepted Savior. And if we're in a backslidden state, let us come to Christ. Let us realize afresh what Christ has done on the cross. Let's plead the merit of His blood. and pray for cleansing from that sin. Notice too that God's gracious cleansing of sin is followed by real comfort. Look at the connection between verse seven and verse eight of the psalm. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. What does that mean? It means that the Christian who pleads for pardon and pleads for cleansing and knows this restoring grace of God in Jesus Christ will know his joy and peace being restored. It's sin that robs us of our joy. It's sin that robs us of our peace. When we come before the Lord and plead for his cleansing, gladness will be restored. You see, when a sinner first comes to Christ and knows that cleansing of his sin, he's full of joy in believing. The blessings of the gospel overwhelm us, overwhelm our souls. But that sense of joy diminishes for the backslider. We lose out with him. But that joy can be restored. Look there at verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Is that not what you long for tonight? You can look back to a better time in your Christian walk when you rejoiced in the Lord, when the Word of God was your delight, when prayer was a joy to come into and to wait before God in prayer, when the house of God was eagerly anticipated, when you loved to be in the fellowship of God's people, when there was a joy in your heart that others could see and testify of, and now you've lost that. It can be restored. It can be restored. Cleansing from sin is all of God's grace. This is God's work. The sin was David's, but the washing from that sin was all of God. David was polluted, but he could not purge himself. And no amount of work on David's part could remove this. He had to repent. He had to pray. He had to cast himself upon God. But it was the Lord who cleansed him. In Ephesians chapter 5, we read there of Christ and the church. Our Savior is dealing with the situation between husbands and wives in the church at Ephesus. Very important subject in that city because of the temple of Diana. and all the immorality that flowed from that and surrounding the temple there. And these believers have been saved out of that, and yet they're in this society that is full of immorality and unfaithfulness in the marriage relationship. And Paul has to deal with that to these believers and remind them that, husbands, you are to love your wives. You are to love your wives. This was a thing. He's writing to Christian husbands who've been saved out of life in Ephesus and saved from all of that kind of immorality, and he has to tell these men, husbands, love your wives. We live in a very immoral society when it's good for Christian husbands to be reminded of this. We are to love our wives. not be given to the immorality or the virtual adultery at times that so many have fallen into. There are many things that are beneficial from the internet, but many a man has been ruined. Many a marriage has been ruined because a man has fallen into an addiction on the internet. So Paul writes these words to these husbands, and he tells them, verse 25, husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. The sanctifying grace of our God. He cleanses, He restores, He revives, He refreshes, He cleanses us, He washes us. Sometimes I fear we want the blessings without the confessing of our sin. We want spiritual recovery without giving up the sin. John tells us in 1 John 1 and 9 that if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is restoration for us. However dark, however deep, however awful, however horrible, however dreadful the sin One last thought here. Spiritual recovery will be marked with humility and submission. There's nothing of pride in the psalm. David's humbled as God deals with him. David owns that humility. This is not about David exerting himself now. This is about David honoring God. Verse six, behold, I desire this truth in the inward parts. That's where it all went wrong with David, his heart. His heart. He saw Bathsheba, he lingered in Jerusalem. Then he saw Bathsheba and he lusted after her in his heart. In the hidden part, thou shalt make me to know wisdom. There's a confession that he lacked wisdom. Here's a broken man. He testifies later in verse a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." We have every reason, believer, to be broken over our sin and to cry to God for mercy. Are you a backslider tonight? A long time, maybe. deep sin in your life, deep sin, dark secrets, not secret to God, because God knows all things. And let me say to you tonight, take your place at the feet of Christ, at the foot of the cross, and plead for cleansing, for there is mercy with the Lord. I am married to you, he says. Satan says there's no hope. Satan says there's no way back. But Satan's a liar. There's mercy for you. May you come to know that tonight in your experience for Jesus' sake.