Amen. Please be seated. We come to our text this morning, as you might have anticipated from the last hymn, Psalm 51, verses 1 through 19, which is the whole psalm. Hear the word of God. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God. O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bulls will be offered on your altar. Praise God for this reading of his word. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Oh, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, your life-giving word, your perfect in every way word, your word that is sufficient for our hearts, sufficient for our spirits, sufficient for our life now and in the world to come. Father, we pray that you would bless your word to us that we may be more like Jesus and live more faithfully for him. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. People commonly think that the most important thing about a Christian is that you are good. So people of a critical temperament might point out your flaws and say, you're not so good. And of course, they're right. No, the most important thing about you is that you repent of being bad and that you trust Christ to be good in your place. And yet Christians are not sad and miserable people for all this repenting. Repentance is a sweet brokenheartedness. Jesus begins his ministry, his ministry to his people saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And in commanding repentance, Jesus is commanding pain and suffering. Because it's the only way to peace and joy. And the great example of repentance, it's pain and it's joy is David in Psalm 51. After his sin with Bathsheba and after his confrontation by the prophet Nathan. And in this Psalm we see a number of things. We see what repentance is. Repentance is a state of grief. In Hebrew the word means grief and turning or returning. In Greek, the Greek of the New Testament, it means grief and a change of mind, a turning of the mind. It's a turning away from self to God, no longer living for self. but living instead for God. It's an abandonment of self. The way you abandon a ship, you might, you get on a ship, and you're planning a nice vacation, and off you go, sailing into the wild blue yonder, and you're happy to stay there, of course. There's sea all around you. And then you discover the ship is on fire. Well, then you flee it as fast as you can, even into the wild waves of the sea. But the difference between Repentance and that fleeing a ship, which it is like, is that when you flee your sin, you don't cast yourself into the unknown of the seas, but into the everlasting arms, into the promises of God. And so repentance is also resting solely upon not something as unpredictable as the seas, but upon God's grace and power. In Psalm 51 verse 1 we see this, we see the abandonment, have mercy on me, like the publican in the temple who has nowhere else to turn and he beats his breast and says, God have mercy on me a sinner, I have nothing else to stand on, I am just a sinner. Have mercy on me." So there's that abandonment of self, but also the resting upon God. According to your steadfast love, he says, resting upon the Lord's steadfast love, His loving kindness, His covenant love. Have you ever grieved over your sins, brothers and sisters? Does your sin give you grief? One of our presidential candidates shocked us when he said that he had never repented. Instead he says he prefers not to make mistakes in the first place, which he is sure he has never done. And yet he claimed to be a Christian. But without the grief of repentance, there is no Christian. I shot a bird once. I confess to you all, I shot a bird once. I felt terrible. Why did I feel terrible? All these other birds came down around the former bird and started dancing around in panic like this. I wasn't expecting that, and I grieved. I grieved not so much for the little bird or for any consequences that might or might not befall me. I grieved for what I was. I did that. I did that. I grieved for me. That is the grief of repentance. Repentance is also a work of grace. God is your salvation from first to last. Your salvation is not a combined effort of you and God. It's not God doing his part and then you doing your part and meeting him halfway. It is God's work from beginning to end. And Jesus says, repent. Repent. The you is assumed. You repent. It's in the affirmative. And yet, in Acts 5, Peter says, God exalted him to his right hand, that is, Jesus, as Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. He gave forgiveness of sins through Christ to Israel, but he also gave them repentance. And Acts 11, it says, they glorified God, saying, then God has also granted repentance to life to the Gentiles, granted to the Gentiles repentance life. He gives repentance. God calls you to himself and then he brings you to himself. He requires repentance and he is the one who gives the repentance because it is grace Salvation is grace from beginning to end and it has to be that way so that nobody can say, I am here in heaven because I decided to be here or because I repented and my repentance was good enough and I did this and none of that. Because in 1 Corinthians 1, it also says it in Isaiah, so that no one may boast in his presence. Because He is the Creator, we are the creature, and He deserves all the glory. And so our salvation is Him from beginning to end. Even the repentance is from Him. But why do you repent? What is the motive? The motive is love, and we see it here in verse 2. Desire for godliness, desire for purity, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. After a certain age, we want to be clean. Before a certain age, we don't understand that, but they're happy not being clean. After a certain age, you go out, you have a workout, you're sweaty, and there's dirt in the air, and what do you want? You want to clean yourself off. There's other situations where you want to be clean, and it's true spiritually as well. The Lord shows you your sin, and you want to be cleaned from it. It weighs on your conscience. But there's also not just love, there's also hatred. A hatred for your sinfulness. A repulsion at your sinfulness. You look at your sin before you didn't see it. The Lord opens your eyes and shows you your sin and it repulses you. You want to be rid of it. He says in verse 3, my sin is ever before me. It's there before me, weighing me down, accusing me, always there, weighing my conscience. So repentance is a turning from as well as a turning to. And we see this in Isaiah 55 verse 7 where Isaiah says, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Forsake them. Turn away from them. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon, turning away from sin and turning to the God who graciously receives those who so turn. Above all, repentance is a desire for God Himself. It's not just a fear of the consequences of sin, the way the burning ship, you jump off the ship because you're afraid of the consequences of hanging around too long and getting burned. But repentance is not just a fear of the consequences of burning in hell, and it's not just self-disgust as you find in or if you shoot a bird, or you find in self-improvement programs, disappointment that you're not living your best life now, or something like that. It's an actual desire for God. Your sin separates you from Him. And you understand that He is your light and your life. He is your Creator, you're made for Him. Your joy, we all want joy. Who doesn't want joy and happiness? You understand that it is in Him. And apart from Him, there is no joy. There is no satisfaction. So your heart longs for Him, for a relationship with Him. a relationship with Him. That's a kind of empty word we use, but I'll use it. What we mean is friendship. If I have you in a headlock, we have a relationship, right? But that's not what it's talking about here. It's talking about friendship, that kind of relationship. It's talking about peace with God. Verse 4, against you, you only have I sinned. David has arranged for Uriah the Hittite's death. And before that, he committed adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. He has wronged them. But he says, against you, God, you alone have I sinned. He reveres God's holiness and he shares God's judgments against himself. And he says, therefore, I have done what is evil in your sight. It's not just in his view mistakes or wrongdoing. It's evil. And I have done what is evil in your sight. And one who repents, repents of evil, not just personal shortcoming, evil. And verse 11, he says, cast me not away from your presence. It's the presence of God, it's the enjoyment of God that is his goal, that's the desire of his heart. Cast me not away from your presence. David wants to be good, but more so he wants to be in good relationship with God who is good. Repentance, brothers and sisters, is not fundamentally about behavior. It is about relationship. God made us to be in this relationship of peace and enjoyment with him. He made us for himself, the catechism tells us. And sin breaks that relationship. Sin breaks relationships with the ones we love. It separates people. from one another who should be close friends. And we all know this all too well. Friends and family, your friends and your family. When you're on good terms, there's openness, there's comfort with one another, and life is beautiful. But where there is or is perceived to be offense or betrayal, The walls go up, there is pain, there is silence, awkward silence, because the relationship is strained or it is broken. We see the same thing in the fall. Adam and Eve break God's command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And what happens? They hide themselves. They hide themselves from God when He comes to the garden. Why? Because there is a broken relationship on account of sin. And what does God do? He restores that relationship, or He promises to restore the relationship. In Genesis 3.16, He clothes them with the animal skins, looking forward to what He's going to do through Jesus. And then, of course, the cross, where Jesus makes good on that. On the cross, he quotes Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me? Cast me away from your presence. There is a broken relationship. The father turns his face away from the son. Because of our sins on him, there is a break in the relationship. But what happens? God raises him from the dead. Jesus pays for those sins. He atones for those sins. God raises him up, showing that he has done the work. It is finished. It is complete. And the relationship is restored. And through him, our relationship with God can be restored. Some people know that sin is bad for them. And they know their sin is wrong, but they don't stop sinning. Why? Because there's no relationship involved, or they don't appreciate the relationship that is involved. My grandpa Bruce, when he was, I guess he was still in the army. My mother was a wee girl. was in Scotland. And it must have been Hogmanay or something, Scottish New Year, and there was a lot of drinking and my grandfather had consumed what you would expect someone to consume on Hogmanay. And as I hear the story, my mother was there, she was just a wee thing, as I said, and he must have, he beckoned to her, something like, ah, my wee thing, come tear paw, or something like this. And she saw he was different, and she recoiled at him, she backed away. And he hadn't had so much that he couldn't see this. He saw this and he recognized what was happening and he didn't like it. And so he never had another drop the rest of his life because his relationship with his little girl was more important. than any enjoyment or anything that he might get out of drinking, and so he swore it off. Repentance is the same way, except the relationship is with God. Verses 10 to 12, let's look at that again. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. We sin when we have more concern for the wrongdoing than for the relationship. Imagine your father has, I guess it could be your mother, but it's more likely your father has a classic car, right? I don't mean like a car that was very special to me, an 87 Corolla. Oh, that was a nice car. No, I'm talking like a Ford Mustang, not like a 97 Mustang. Kids, you think that was forever ago, 97? No, they weren't making Mustangs well. a 66 Mustang. He's got this in his garage and he keeps it shining and he keeps it humming. It's his 66 Mustang. And you're playing in the Mustang one day and he finds you playing in the Mustang and he flies into a rage and he hits you and gives you various appropriate warnings. and your heart breaks, why does your heart break? It's not because now you don't get to play in the Mustang anymore. It's not because the sting of the slap. It's because of the broken relationship. It's because my father seems to care more for the Mustang than for me. That's what breaks your heart. David says in Psalm 66, if I had cherished sin in my heart, if I cherished sin in my heart, if I had preferred sin to God, the Lord would not have listened. Broken relationship. Sin is a broken relationship with God. Repentance is a broken heart over that relationship. Martin Luther, who had a way of putting things, said that repentance is the tear in the eye of faith shed for that relationship. Brothers and sisters, the question to ask yourself is not, do I want to go to heaven? Do I expect to go to heaven? Much less, am I a good person? What could God possibly have against me? The question for you, whether you are converted or not converted, David, you'll notice, is a mature believer at this point. The question for you is, what do I think of my sin? Do I see my sin the way God sees my sin? Do I want to know God and the power of His resurrection, as Paul puts it? Is that personal relationship with my Creator, my Redeemer, important for me? How important is it for me? That politician says he doesn't ask God's forgiveness, he just tries in his mind successfully not to sin. But of course he's deceiving himself and he's missing out. He's missing out not only on eternal life, but also on the joy of daily repentance and the daily renewal with your peace with God. Not that we ever lose God's peace in Christ, but the enjoyment of that relationship. As you go on repenting, as your relationship with God, your friendship with God strengthens and deepens, More and more you will come to love what He loves and enjoy what He enjoys, and nothing compares to that. This is spiritual fruit. This is growing, growing in Christ. And we see that love throughout this passage. Verse 6, if you have verse 6 in front of you. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being. There's a love for truth you grow into. You delight in truth in the inward being. You teach me wisdom in my secret heart. And there's a love for purity. Verse 10, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. There's a love for the lost in verse 13. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. He's happy with this. And there's a love for God's worship. Verses 14 to 16, deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O God, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise, for you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it. You will not be pleased with burnt offerings. The repentant heart loves God's worship. And the repentant heart loves God's church as well. Verse 18, do good for Zion in your good pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. And then, of course, there's love for God's pleasure itself. When God is happy, you're as happy. You are happy. What he wants, he is pleased with, and so you give him what he wants, and this delights you. Then you will delight. You, God, will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bowls will be offered on your altar. When God is happy, you are happy. This is the spiritual fruit on the other side of repentance, the sweetness of that sweet brokenheartedness, the substance of your peace with God. And to those of gracious temperament whose eyes God is opening, people you know in your life, not the critical spirits, people whose eyes God is opening, to whom He has given this gracious temperament, Those loves, love for truth, love for purity, love for the church, love for God's pleasure, will not go unnoticed. And by the God to whom your heart is graciously restored, they will not go unused. Let's pray. O Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for giving repentance to our hearts. You give us many things, especially here in this country. You give us many things, but you have given repentance to our hearts. Father, give us daily repentance because daily we sin. Show us our sin. Give us grief of our sin. Give us the joy and delight of knowing that our sins are forgiven. And Father, we pray, Lord, that this joy would shine from us and that those who are drawing to yourself would see this joy, see this growth, and see that it is possible for a human being to be forgiven of sin and to grow in grace out of sin. And Father, we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.