Chris McCurley: busy and productive week. Started off by being in New Mexico. Left there Tuesday and the low was 39 degrees. Left at 545 that morning. Got to Dallas Fort Worth and we're supposed to be home at five forty five. Got home at eight thirty because they kept changing planes with maintenance issues. Made it home and turned around and went to Benton, Kentucky. A great evening there with those folks. And then we spent the weekend with our granddaughter and grandson and daughter and son in law and spoke this morning at the Acton Church of Christ. And I haven't been home yet, thus the unique attire for me on a Sunday night. But I'm so glad to be back with you. And I know that our intern Austin did a wonderful job. I edit those sermons down and put them on the website so I get to listen to them and after the fact, and I'm so proud of these guys. We definitely, definitely made the right hire with Austin, and ⁓ he is such a blessing and such a wonderful addition to our team. And then, like I've told you before, and I stand by this, I think our interns can fill a pulpit today somewhere. I mean, they are exceptional. And Blake, thank you for leading singing tonight. Cade awesome job this morning with Psalm 44. 46. Cade came to me and he said, Would you like me to do a psalm? And I said, The way you're asking that seems like you may not want to do a psalm. And he said, Well, I have a lesson, but if you want me to do a psalm, I'll do a psalm. And I said, Yeah, I'd like you to do a psalm. Let's stay with the series. I've got a layup for you. I'm not doing Psalm 46, so we'll let you do that one. And man, knocked it out of the park. So thank you for that. And chance, you love ice cream? I love that one. I mean, that's such a relatable illustration for me. I eat a lot of ice cream. So I appreciate you guys, and I appreciate all of you. Appreciate our elders for allowing. Me the time away to go and speak at other congregations and with other people, and ⁓ I'm so blessed to get that opportunity. Someday these folks that are asking me to speak are gonna figure out I can't do it very well and they're not gonna ask, but I appreciate it so far. Did you know that the United States Department of Treasury has a fund called the Conscience Fund? It started some 175 years ago or so when people would feel guilty and send in money as a way of soothing their conscience for cheating Uncle Sam. The first was a man who sent in six dollars because he felt bad of lying on his taxes. Someone sent in nine cents because they felt bad for reusing a three cent stamp. Over the years, the conscience fund has accumulated. Accumulated over $57 million. And I think that's pretty neat. I think it's cool that we still have people who feel guilty, who feel remorseful and want to do something about it. But what's even neater or cooler than that is the psalm that we're looking at tonight and the remorse and guilt that David felt and how he responded a few years ago. Chris Webb invited me out to his place to deer hunt. I had not deer hunted since I moved here, so I think this was the second year I was living here. Went out on this place. I was putting a blind by myself. I'm kind of a fair weather hunter now. If you don't have a heated blind, I'm probably not gonna go out there. I'm not gonna sit in a tree stand when it's freezing. So I get this heated blind, I'm sitting there by myself, and a nice eight point comes up and I I drop it and and he hears the shot and he texted me and he said, Hey, did you get one? I said, Yes, sir. And so he rushes over with Hunter and we load it up on the side. by side and we take it down to the creek to to gut it and and and as we're at the creek his two little girls Kylie Ray and and Emmy were down there with us and he's using it as an anatomy lesson. He's showing them the you know the the liver and the lungs and he even cuts out the heart and he gives it to Kylie Ray and she's messing with it and passing it over to Emmy and she drops it on the ground several times and it's all you know muddy and gross and so he takes it and he washes it in the creek and gives it back to him. How do you clean a heart? You know, in that situation, it was pretty easy. You just wash it in the creek. But how do you clean your heart when it's dirty, when it's filthy, when it's covered in sin? You know, in David's situation. We don't have to look far to know what Psalm 51 is all about. Notice the superscription at the top to the choir master, a psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. I think you know the story of David and Bathsheba, how he went from a zero to a hero and back to a zero. But you know, in this parable, Nathan is pointing out that David is the one responsible for the transgression. Notice the parable. This one is found in ⁓ second Samuel chapter twelve, starting in verse one. There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor, Nathan says. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he bought and nourished, and it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup, and lie in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. Now a traveller came to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him. Rather he took the poor. Now understand at this point David has moved on with from his sin with Bathsheba, the murder of Uriah. But the crown is cutting off the circulation to his brain. He's gotten too big for his britches. And God has to send a prophet onto the scene to get his attention. And upon hearing this parable, David is incensed. He is angered. The man has to die for what he has done. And notice what Nathan says: As the Lord lives, This is David, I'm sorry, talking. As the Lord lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. He must make restitution for the Lamb fourfold because he did this thing and had no compassion. And Nathan responds with, You are the man. In our culture, that's a term of endearment. You the man. In fact, you might hear that in reference to a sexual escapade with a guy and his friends. Hey, you're the man. In this case, it's not a term of endearment. David was guilty of two sins, both condemnable by stoning. Nathan points out that you are the man in the parable. You are the one. You're angry with this man, but you're angry at yourself, or at least you should be, because you have done this atrocious thing. You are the one that is responsible. And David could feel this. He was contrite. He was broken upon hearing this. And that's where Psalm 51 picks up. Verse 1 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 clean. 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. Do you ever have to read Edgar Allan Poe in high school or college? You remember Edgar Allan Poe? You remember that some of his poems were rather dark and morbid, like the telltale heart. Which, if I remember correctly, is about a guy who kills someone, dismembers them, and puts them under the their floor and under the planks in their floor. And the guy is so arrogant, the murderer is so arrogant, that when the cops come, he helps them with the investigation, he even tries to help them connect the dots and the clues. But the whole time he hears the heart of his victim pounding. And it gets louder and louder. To the point that he cannot deny it any longer, he can't accept it any longer, and he comes clean to the police and he's arrested. And what he soon realizes is it wasn't the heart of his victim that was beating so loudly to get his attention. It was his own heart. And it was searing his conscience, and it was it was making him crazy because he he had done this thing and it had convicted him so much. Guilt is like that. When we have sinned, the heart will not rest until it is clean. And this is what motivated these words by David. His heart was pounding, and he could not live with the shame of what he had done. And verse 10 is key to understanding this whole psalm: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. How do you clean a heart? David's heart was pounding relentlessly. It was David's heart. It wasn't Uriah's heart. It was his own heart that was pounding relentlessly. It was his own. And something had to be done. He couldn't take it any longer. What is the rarest play in baseball? Anybody know? Anybody know what the rarest play in baseball is? Any suggestions? Nobody? Yeah. Triple play. Not just a triple play, an unassisted triple play is the rarest play in baseball. In fact, it's only happened 15 times in the major leagues. And all of them have followed some sort of pattern where it's a line drive caught by one of the fielders who tags the runner and then steps on the bag. I want to talk for just a few minutes about David's triple play. And one thing that I want you to see about it is that unlike the major leagues. David's triple play was definitely not unassisted. Here's the first out. The first out is recognition. And this is where David deserves some credit. David owned his sin. He acknowledged it. He didn't try to point the finger. He didn't try to play the role of a victim. He didn't try to point out, you know, Bathsheba's role and all of it. He accepted responsibility, which is the very first key to overcoming sin in our lives. Now this is unique in our culture because so many times the MO is lie, lie, lie. Until you're backed in a corner and you can't deny it any longer, you lie through your teeth to get yourself off the hook. And if the person you're lying to buys it, then you just keep stacking on lie after lie because the worst thing you can do is come clean. You just lie. And David didn't do that, and this is so impressive because he admits to every single detail. God has a no-spin zone. We may fool ourselves, we may fool other people, but we're not going to fool God. He knows every sin that resides in the deep dark recesses of our soul. And so David comes clean, acknowledging, hey, God already knows it. I might as well just come forth and pour it out. And he does. He acknowledges the sin in his life and he points the finger directly at himself. No doubt this was his own fault. He was the only one to blame. No one else. This is self-inflicted. So that's the first out. Here's the second out. Repentance. Purify me with hyssop, he says, and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice, hide your face from my sins, and blot out my iniquities. We've talked about some of these Hebrew words before, but the word purify here is chataa, and this word means failure. David is requesting that God remove the actions, the guilt, the smell, the stain of sin. The imagery here is of the ritualistic cleansings by the priest in the Old Testament. Hyssop was a familiar herb that was used as an applicator, especially in the cleansing rites for the priest as they addressed the lepers. It would be mixed with water and sprinkled on the unclean by the priest. And so David is asking God to Scrub his heart. How do you make a heart clean? You scrub it, and he's asking God to make it whiter than snow. Purify it. This is a reference to the purification rituals of the Old Testament. David is asking God to be his priest and to wash him clean, thus removing all defilement. And snow was the purest, whitest form of purity. And so he asked that God address this. To clean his heart. And when he says, Let the bones you have broken rejoice, he is admitting that the only way that he can be made whole is through godly surgery. Bones here refers to the totality of one's being. And broken bones means that a person is completely broke apart. It's like you dropped a vase and it shattered into a thousand pieces. That's where David is at. It's a it's a figurative way of describing the complete devastation that David is experiencing. He was suffering mentally. And physically and emotionally, and he asks God to put all the broken pieces of his life back together and make him a new man. You see, David wants to distance himself from the sin and the transgressions that has broken him. He longs to have a clean heart and make a clean break, and so he pleads with God to turn his face away from those things that he has done and to make him whole again. To never look back. He is hoping that God will wipe away his sin. from the book of life, strike it from the record, and keep reading. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit. So David doesn't just want a clean heart, he wants a new heart. And the word create here in Hebrew is bara. And bara points to an action that only God can take. Remember, I said that David's triple play was not unassisted. He would never get to this point. Solo by himself. It would definitely have to be assisted. Even more than assisted, it would have to be God doing the action. But you think about why David would choose these words, take not your Holy Spirit from me. Because David had witnessed the Holy Spirit being removed from Saul. In fact, he'd even experienced it in his life at one time. He didn't want that experience again. He never wanted to experience the Spirit leaving him again. He got a taste of it, and he never wanted to see it be permanent in his life. You know, repentance is a change of mind, it's a change of will, it's a change of heart, it's a change of direction. You've heard that before. Repentance is a radical reprioritization of life's values, effective immediately. But it's not just a spiritual word. Repentance was a word that in biblical times was applied to the nomadic culture. If you were a nomad and you were wandering around aimlessly in the wilderness, you might soon realize that the terrain was not familiar, that this is not the way you're supposed to go. So you would repent and you would change direction, you would change course. And so repentance is all. About change. It's all about rerouting. It's all about taking on a new direction. And for us, in a spiritual sense, it's about going in a godly direction. This Psalm speaks our language. Because we are nomads trying to navigate this world filled with darkness. We need light. We need direction. But first and foremost, we need recognition. Recognition that we are indeed going in the wrong direction. That's that's hard for some of us. It's hard for us guys. Guys, imagine that you're on vacation and you're you're traveling in a certain direction and you realize that you're lost. Now imagine turning to your wife, looking her in the eye and saying, Honey, I got us lost. You would never do that, would you? You'd take an ice pick to the eye before you'd do that. But repentance is recognizing. That you're going in the wrong direction. Not only is it recognizing that you're going in the wrong direction, it's it's realizing that there's another direction that you need to go. And not only that, it's it's making the U-turn, rerouting and going in the proper direction. That's what repentance is. As difficult as it may be, we cannot get turned around without admitting that we're going in the wrong direction. God allows U-turns. Repentance may be the most difficult step in the salvation process. I mean, you know, believing may be tough, but you know, most people don't Have too hard of a time believing. You know, confessing Jesus isn't that hard. Being baptized, submitting to baptism, somebody else is really doing the work there. Repentance, though, maybe the toughest step in all of this. Deciding that you're going to change, that you're going to reroute your life, that no longer are you going to live in an ungodly direction. So that's the second out. The third out is renewal. Look at Psalm 51, verses 13 and 14. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, David says, and sinners will be converted to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation. Then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness. I love this. David is ready to get back to work. He's been forgiven. Now he's ready to go teach transgressors about his ways and about what God has done for him. He's ready to go tell others look, you can have salvation. There is hope, even though you're a lowly sinner. Look at what God has done for me. He can do the same thing for you. David is so ready to go out and teach others, which speaks volumes to us as well, doesn't it? Converted sinners make the best preachers, folks. Who better? To go out and teach others about sin and salvation than those who have lived a life in darkness but have been brought into the light. In Eugene Peterson's book, Run with Horses. He tells the story of trying to take the blade off his mower. And there was a nut holding it on. And he got a wrench, he placed it on the nut, and he started trying to turn the nut, but it wouldn't turn. With all his might, he tried, but it it wouldn't budge. And so he got a pipe and placed it over the wrench and used it as a lever, and he leaned on that, but that that didn't work either. He was starting to get emotionally involved with this mower. Some of you guys know what I'm talking about. And so his neighbor came over and said, you know, I was noticing what you were doing, and if I remember correctly, I had a mower like that, and I think the threads run the opposite direction. And so he started turning the other way, and the nut came off pretty easily. You know, sometimes we think we know better. Sometimes we try with all of our might, and it just doesn't work out. But this is not about trying harder. This is about training, not trying. I'm not saying that you shouldn't give effort, but so often that is how we handle the sin in our lives. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps. You know, you just keep moving forward. You go to church more, you read your Bible more, you pray more. I mean, that's that's the formula, right? But David shows us that this is about training, not trying. For you do not delight in sacrifice, he says. Otherwise I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. If we were just about doing something, David says, I'd offer a sacrifice. Yeah, but that's not what God is wanting here. You know what God wants? He wants my heart. He wants to create in me a clean heart. He wants to turn me away from my sins. You know, when I was growing up, if I had sin in my life, which I certainly did, I would go to the priest and I would confess my sins to him and he would give me penance. Usually three our fathers, three Hail Marys, three glory bees. And I would go home and I would pray those many times a day. That was my repentance. Now there's a couple of problems with that. Number one is I didn't offend the priests. I offended a holy God. But secondly, penance is not the same thing as repentance. There must be a change. There must be fruit of repentance. I'm not saying that you don't have to try, that you don't have to do anything. Certainly you have to do something. But look at this more from a standpoint of sanctification and the process of growing and maturing in your faith. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. This is training, not trying. Come broken, come contrite, come ready to let God transform you. Repentance isn't passive. However, I'm sure you've noticed that your won't power is much stronger than your willpower. So this isn't just about willpower. This isn't just about trying harder. This is about training, letting God fill you and move you. David recognized that repentance was about bearing fruit. I mean, after all, you can't keep doing what you've always done and expect different results. So change in direction constitutes a change in behavior. And sometimes that requires extreme measures, doesn't it? Many times it requires this: changing your playmates and changing your playground. So often it is the people you surround yourself with and the environment that you choose to live in. And repentance doesn't occur without changing our playmates and changing our playground. When we talk about training versus trying, we're talking about something that is similar to losing weight. You know, if there's so many diets out there that promise that you'll lose so many pounds in a week or a month. And the diet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Why is that? Because so many people want a quick fix, right? But the nutritionists, the doctors will tell us that the only real healthy way to lose weight is to eat right and exercise. But who wants to do that? I still want to eat my donuts. I I I still want to enjoy all those things that I that are probably not good for me, right? But it's the same way with repentance, it's the same way as what David, I think, is teaching us through this psalm is that if you want to get right with God, if you want a clean heart, there is no shortcut, there is no easy route. You've got to change your lifestyle. Maybe you have to change your playmates and change your playground. Maybe it's like what Jesus said hyperbolically when he said, if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. How far are you willing to go? How bad do you want this? David wanted it bad. And therefore, he was willing to do anything to get on good side. Yeah, I'm going to bring up this quote a lot, so just get used to it, but I love it. And just think about that tonight. Think about where you're at. And think about where you want to be. You're as close to God right now as you want to be. So don't say, well, I just want to be closer to God. No, you're as closer to God right now as you want to be. How bad do you want this? How close to God do you want to be? How bad do you want it? It's like the gentleman who came in to see his preacher. He had an experience like many of us do that he was trying to do the right thing, but he found himself falling into sin and then he'd repent and you know he'd confess his sin and then he would go along for a little while and then he'd you know fall again and then he'd get back up and ask God for forgiveness, and it was just this vicious cycle, and so he came to his preacher to talk about it and he said, I just I just want to be right with God and and I've asked him to remove the cobwebs in my life, but to no avail. And the preacher said, That's your problem. Quit trying to remove the cobwebs and kill the spider. And I think that's key for all of us. If you truly want a clean heart and you truly want to live a godly life, quit trying to remove the cobwebs and kill the spider. Can we help you do that tonight? If so, Blake's got a song. Why don't you come as we stand and as we sing.