Sermon: Psalm 51 A Cry for Cleansing

When we were growing up, we always used to go for walks on Sunday afternoons, after we got our dinner. Some days we would just go through the park; other days we ended up on a big circuit through the countryside, but there’s one day I will never forget. We were on the Jubilee Road, about a mile from home, when suddenly, my wee brother (aged about four or five) tripped and fell headlong into a big muddly puddle. He was plastered in muck from head to toe - from the front, he looked like a swamp monster. Absolutely filthy.

No matter how hard he tried to sort himself, wiping the mud off his face, it just didn’t work - because he was still dirty. He was only really spreading it around. Even dad’s hanky didn’t make much difference. He nearly would have needed to have been put in the washing machine along with his clothes. He started to cry. He didn’t want to be dirty. He needed to be clean - and he couldn’t do it himself.

Our reading this evening is a cry for cleansing, from the lips of King David. It’s the cry of someone who has realised their filthiness, who has recognised that they can’t sort themselves out. Just like a baby crying because they have a dirty nappy, so David cries out to be cleansed.

You see, David had been found out. In the title of the Psalm, we’re told that it is ‘A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.’ David, the king, hadn’t bothered going to war with his soldiers, and instead, back home, he spotted Bathsheba bathing, and sent for her. In doing so, he got her pregnant - but then had her husband (one of the soldiers who had been fighting for him) killed to cover up his unfaithfulness. As one commentator has said, David managed to break at least five of the commandments in one go - coveting, theft, adultery, murder, and bearing false witness.

He thought he had gotten away with it, though. No one knew anything about it, but God knew. So God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David, telling a parable to trap David into convicting himself with his own words. ‘You are the man.’

This psalm is the outpouring of David’s repentance, as he cries to God for cleansing. He recognises his need for God to do it in the very first verse: ‘Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.’ He needs mercy - for God to not give him what he deserves. He admits that God would be justified to sentence him; (4) that God would be right to pass judgement on him, because he has done evil (4).

It’s not that he’s covering up his sinfulness; not pretending that all is well; he’s not ignoring the stench of his sin - no, he lays it bare before the Lord. He says that ‘I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.’ (3) He mentions sins, and transgressions, and iniquity. David recognises that he is, in heart and soul, evil - a sinner from conception, born this way in rebellion against God.

Now as we read these words, I wonder what your reaction is? When you hear the word ‘sinner’, do you instantly think of yourself, or of some other person or group? Is it only those people over there (whoever they may be) who are the sinners? Or do you qualify as well? Is that who you are, too? Maybe when we come to church, we don’t show it - we can put on a show for an hour or so, stand and sit in the right places, smile and sing and be silent; we look the part, dressed in nice clothes. And yet, deep down, each of us are in the same situation. None of us are righteous. God desires ‘truth in the inward being’ (6), but we’re a jumble of lies and folly and idolatry. It’s David’s testimony - even David, the man after God’s heart; David the king, the leader of God’s people. David, the sinner.

Because of that, he can only cry out to God for cleansing. ‘Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.’ (2) ‘Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.’ (7) ‘Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.’ (9)

David has owned what he has done; now he cries out for God to do what only God can do - to provide cleansing, to bring forgiveness. It almost sounds too wonderful to be true - that we who are dirty can be made clean. And yet it is precisely what God does; what God has done, not just for David, but for countless numbers, everyone who turns to God in repentance and faith - as we know (even though David didn’t), through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, for our sake.

As we cry out to the Lord, we are assured of forgiveness and mercy, because of God’s promise. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. (1 Tim 1:15). So if you found yourself as a sinner earlier, then there is hope. You see, God doesn’t just confront us with our sin; convict us of our guilt and then leave us like that. No, he has provided the cure. He has sent the remedy - the redeemer, who takes away our sin and clothes us in his perfect, spotless righteousness. In the book Revelation, John sees that great crowd before the throne, and he is told that ‘they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ (Rev 7:14)

The TV adverts are always full of the latest washing powder or the newest hoover which also washes the carpets. All the stains will be taken away. Yet no washing powder, however good, will make whites whiter than snow. Eventually over time whites become grey (please don’t look too closely at my surplice!). Yet the blood of the Lamb makes them whiter than fresh snow.

I suspect that most, if not all, have cried to the Lord; you’re already a Christian. So what about after we’ve been converted? We rejoice in the promise that as we confess our sins, God forgives them. There is no condemnation. And yet, David is very aware that he needs more than just the instant forgiveness - what we know as justification (which we see in 1-9). He also needs the ongoing power of God to change (what is known as sanctification). Look with me at verse 10: ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.’ This is all about how David will continue to live in the future. He’s assured of forgiveness, but he also needs to go on with God, which again is an act of mercy on God’s part.

You see, if our hearts are sinful and wicked, then we need a new heart, a clean heart - a heart that desires God, that seeks to obey him by love. We’re given a heart transplant. We’re also given the Holy Spirit - David pleads that he now be taken away. (11) David asks to know the joy of salvation - the joy of sins forgiven, which leads to a willing spirit.

As he rejoices in sins forgiven, he will then be able to help other sinners, as he shares God’s way with them. But more than that, our ongoing experience of deliverance and salvation will pour out praise to our God, who has rescued us and cleansed us.

The Lord has provided all that we need for our salvation; for the change in identity from sinner to saved. It’s all found in the work of the Lord Jesus, his perfect sacrifice. We receive his mercy as we come humbly, with a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Will you come tonight?

This sermon was preached at the Ash Wednesday service in Aghavea Parish Church on 13th February 2013.

Sermon: Luke 3: 1-14 Prepare The Way: Repentance

2013 is shaping up to be a big year in Fermanagh. We’re waiting for the G8 leaders to arrive in town, holding their conference for the world’s richest 8 nations in Enniskillen at the Lough Erne Resort. Preparations are already under way. You can expect it to get a lot more noticeable as we come closer to June, with security, media, protesters, and the curious wanting to catch a glimpse of Barack Obama, David Cameron and all the rest.

At the start of our reading today, we find a similar list of the political VIPs in the land of Israel about two thousand years ago. Tiberius is emperor, Pilate is governor of Judea and Herod (not the same Herod of last week’s child-slaughtering reading) is in Galilee. All attention appears to be focused on them - the sky news cameras would be following them around, reporting on their pronouncements.

Yet Luke draws our attention away from the centres of power, away from the parliaments and throne rooms of Westminster or Stormont or the White House, and instead points us to the wilderness. Something is happening there which is of much greater significance. There, we find the preparations beginning for the coming of the Lord.

Now, I know that we’ve already been thinking about the coming of the Lord at Christmas - and Luke has done that in his first two chapters (which we looked at a year ago). But we’ve moved on thirty years since the manger and the stable (23), thirty years of ordinary life have occurred. We only know of that one incident when Jesus got left behind at the temple in Jerusalem at the age of twelve.

The rest of that time fades into obscurity. Jesus lived an ordinary life (although one without sin). There are all sorts of later false gospels which make up stories about Jesus’ childhood, but Luke doesn’t go in for that. You see, he’s writing history - he has interviewed the eye-witnesses - ‘so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.’ (1:4)

Out in the wilderness, we see the preparations for the coming of the Lord. In the Old Testament verses quoted, we find some plans for a new road - a highway for the Lord. It’s not going to be a humpy, bumpy road up hills and down valleys, but a straight, level road. Think the new A4 dual carriageway, only even better!

But we don’t see any diggers or lorries. There’s a sound, but not of heavy plant machinery. Rather, it’s a voice - ‘the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.’ You see, it’s not an actual road that’s being prepared, but rather the people are being prepared for the coming of the Lord.

So how did the people need to be prepared? What is it the voice is crying out? Look with me at verse two: ‘the word of God came to John...’ So what is the word God gives John? What is it he calls out? He is ‘proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.’

Now if I was to ask you what we know about John, the top answer would probably be that he is the Baptiser (or Baptist). While Luke mentions the baptism, he actually spends more time (and verses) telling us what John was saying, rather than what he was doing. John prepares the way of the Lord by proclaiming repentance - symbolised in the washing of John’s baptism. We’ll see what repentance is as we think about his message - that repentance is essential.

What do you make of John’s words in verse 7? It’s clear that he’s not out to please people; he doesn’t have an eye on the opinion polls in the way some of the politicians might be worried about how their speeches are coming across; it’s definitely not ‘How to win friends and influence people.’ Look what he calls the people: ‘You brood of vipers!’ That’s hardly an endearing term of affection, is it?

But it’s a sign of the need for repentance, to turn away from sin, to be finished with it, to go in a different direction. There is a wrath to come, from which we need to flee (even if it sounds as if John is disappointed that people are fleeing the wrath!). John says (9) that the axe is lying ready to cut down any tree not producing good fruit. Judgement is coming.

It’s a call to take stock, to honestly think - am I producing good fruit? Even five minutes alone with ourselves will remind us that we are in need of repentance, that we aren’t producing good fruit; that in our heart we are sin sick, caught in the endless cycle. There is hardly a few minutes (let alone an hour or a day or a week), when i find myself straying and (not even) struggling with sin.

Repentance is essential - especially for religious people. John’s hearers thought that they might not need to bother with repentance, after all, they were already children of Abraham. If they’re part of the people of God, maybe they were ok? But John says that they can’t rest on their position - God could raise up children to Abraham from the stones at their feet.

Repentance is essential - we are more sinful than we have ever imagined. Repentance is essential - the judge is on his way. Repentance is essential - especially for religious people. John tells us one more thing: Repentance is essential - and practical.

Verse 8: ‘Bear fruits worthy of repentance.’ It’s not enough to just say that you’ve repented; to just make a decision to turn away from sin. It has to be seen in your life - repentance should make a practical difference to the way we live.

That’s why the question that comes from the crowd is so important. (It’s also the question that we always try to answer in the sermons, and it’s the question we should be asking as he read or hear God’s word and try to apply it). ‘What then should we do?’ (10, 12, 14). How will we be changed as we repent and turn from our sins? What will we do differently as a result of hearing God’s word?

For the crowd as a whole, it will mean not being selfish, but sharing with those in need - whether it’s coats or food. Have we a concern for the poor? Or are we only concerned about ourselves?

For the tax collectors (‘even’ the tax collectors!), it means being honest and not exploiting people for greedy gain. For the soldiers, it means honesty and contentment.

For you, what is it? What are the strongholds of sin that you need to turn from; and what will that look like in your life? How will others notice a difference in your life as you bear fruit in keeping with your repentance?

As we meet around the table today, we remember that the King is coming - the King who is also judge; who is pure and holy and righteous. Repentance is essential - we are more sinful than we have imagined (but we are more loved than we could ever have imagined). Repentance is essential - and practical. As we repent, turn from our sins, so we turn to the loving King, who gave himself for our sins, so that the rough will be made smooth, ‘and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ May we know his grace as we are transformed by his word into his likeness for his glory.

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 6th January 2013.

Sermon: Joel 2: 12-17 What Is Repentance?

Australia has been in the news recently with flooding. Now, there’s another problem hitting the country - the locust: One plantation owner says that while the floods were devastating, locusts are now proving a major concern. "Every day they get a bit bigger and every day they need more food. They're just eating their way through the whole area. Any green leaf that bends down and touches the ground, within hours you can see grasshoppers on it eating their way up."

A farming spokesman says "They're attacking all the new growth, the new mango shoots, citrus plants, the new pawpaws being planted, any bananas coming close to the ground are being shredded After the summer we've had, to watch what produce you have got left being annihilated by these vicious locusts is pretty devastating."

In our Bible reading this morning, we find ourselves in the book of the prophet Joel. It’s probably not one of the better known books, so it might be helpful to see the background and context of our reading. We’re not told when Joel lived, all we’re told is that he was the son of Pethuel (1:1). He was a prophet in Jerusalem, at a time of national disaster. A plague of locusts was attacking the land of Judah, and coming dangerously close to Jerusalem. Look back at 1:4 - total devastation. The wine has been cut off, food has been cut off, provisions for livestock have been lost - and even the offerings for the temple have been cut off (1:9,13).

Let’s put Joel in the big picture of the Bible, to see what a great disaster this is: God called Abraham, promising him descendants, and a land, and blessing. So the people here are the children of Abraham, the children of Jacob/Israel; and they’re in the land promised to them. But the promised blessings have been taken away, because of the people’s sin and rebellion.

The locust plague in Judah signals the day of the Lord drawing near (1:15) - a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! (2:2). As you read through Joel 1 and 2, the tension builds, the panic rises, the sense of doom grows - and Joel says that this locust army is God’s army - he is controlling it, commanding it. Look at v 11: ‘The LORD utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it?’

That’s the question facing the people of Jerusalem as Joel speaks to them - who can endure the day of the LORD? When judgement comes, which of them could stand, as destruction looks them in the face? It’s the very same question we must answer too. In the face of a holy God, can you endure the day of the LORD? Can you be confident on that day, or do your sins condemn you?

We find that we’re caught in the same situation as the people of God in Jerusalem - God’s judgement awaits us; the enemy is at the gates; the death that we deserve lies ready to pounce. Darkness and gloom.

Even as that question hangs in the air - who can endure it - the LORD himself speaks, making his appeal and invitation through Joel. Do you see those words at the start of verse 12? “Yet even now.” This morning we’re looking at what repentance is, and in our remaining time, we’ll see that Repentance is Rending (your heart) and Returning (to the LORD), and Required of all.

Perhaps one of the better known lines from Joel is the one found at the start of verse 13: ‘rend your hearts and not your garments.’ But what does that mean? What does it mean to say that repentance is rending your heart? It might be helpful to look at the contrast there, between rending heart and rending garments. You see, to rend your garment was to tear it in two - it was an outward sign of mourning, a ceremonial act of grief. Last Sunday night we were looking at Elijah being taken up to heaven, and Elisha, his companion immediately ‘took hold of his own clothes, and tore them in two pieces.’ (2 Kings 2:13).

God isn’t interested in outward ceremonial expressions of repentance if they’re only on the surface. It can be easy to go through the motions, to look good coming along to church, to kneel properly and appear to repent of sins, but it’s not even skin deep. It’s just an outward act with no real impact on our lives. So easy, that any of us can do it. Believe me, I know it all too well, sometimes.

Rather, God looks on the heart, and it’s there that we need to be rending. To rend your heart is to have your heart breaking over your sin and rebellion. We’re not talking about the blood-pumping organ when we speak of the heart, we’re talking about the centre of our being, the very essence of your being. All too often we’re comfortable with our sin, not convicted; we’re delighted rather than distressed. Joel calls us to see our sin for what it is, to be heartbroken over our sin. Only then will we want to repent, to escape from our sin, to resolve to stop, and seek to please the Lord.

Repentance is rending your heart, but it’s also returning to the LORD. It’s not enough just to be sorry for your sin, or to beat yourself up about it, if that’s all you do about it. There are many who have a guilty conscience, who are troubled over their sin, but who never return to the Lord. Just think of the prodigal son - when he came to himself sitting in the pigpen, he knew he had done wrong, but if he had stayed there, he never would have found forgiveness and acceptance.

As we’ve seen, the LORD issues this invitation - Yet even now (even in the face of judgement), yet even now, return to me with all your heart. You see, heartfelt repentance will lead to fasting, weeping and mourning - whereas outwards gestures won’t lead to inner change.

We have gone astray, but Joel reminds the people who it is they are returning to - look at the character of God as it shines out in the passage: ‘Return to the LORD your God (the covenant God), for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.’ (2:13) It’s the same reminder of God’s character Moses was shown at Sinai when the people had rebelled and made the golden calf. God is merciful - in not giving us what we do deserve; and God is gracious - in giving us what we don’t deserve. As the people look back at their history, they see this time and again - gracious and merciful.

But you can never be presumptuous - you can’t presume that God’s just going to do it anyway. You can’t pursue sin thinking, well, sure, it’s God’s job to forgive. That’s why Joel says in verse 14 ‘Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him?’ We don’t approach God telling him what to do - we come humbly, returning to him, but as we do, we find that he relents.

So far we’ve seen that repentance is rending your heart, and returning to the LORD (saying sorry, coming back to him, taking refuge in his character). The rest of our passage asks the question, then, who needs to repent? And as we briefly look at it, we see that repentance is required of all. ‘Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber’(16) From the oldest to the youngest - from elders to nursing infants, everyone must repent. Each of us have this sin problem - the wrong things we have done, thought and said; the good things we haven’t done. Each of us needs to repent, to be heartbroken over our sin and returning to the covenant God who is merciful and gracious.

We may not be facing a plague of locusts waiting at the edge of Dundonald to devastate our crops; but we continue to face the near judgement of our sins - the threat is just as real. On this side of the cross, we can see clearly the grace and mercy of God, as Jesus takes those wrong things we have done, takes our place, to die the death we deserve; to give us the heaven we don’t deserve. As we look back through history to the cross of Jesus, we can answer that question: ‘Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him?’

Jesus was judged and cursed because of our sin, your sin and mine, so that God relents in his attitude towards us - no longer condemnation, but grace and mercy. That’s why Jesus could appear on the scene at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel and declare: ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel (good news).’ (Mark 1:15). As we turn from sin and believe the promises of God about the character of God, we find that our sins are forgiven, the judgement has been avoided, and we are free to live and love and serve God.

We see that, as judgement has been averted, and God’s mercy and grace flow towards the people of God that God does indeed bless them - look on ahead to verse 25: ‘I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten...’ - blessing rather than curse; and all for the glory of God, so that the nations can’t ask ‘Where is their God?’ but so that all know that the LORD, he is God; the one who will pour out his Spirit on all his people.

Perhaps today you know that you face judgement; that you can’t stand in that day by yourself; that you answer that question of ‘who can endure it?’ by saying, not me. Our God does not change - he who was gracious and merciful in Joel’s day continues to be so, as we see revealed more fully in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. That offer still stands today - to rend your heart, to return to the Lord; to repent - which is required of everyone. Will you repent today? Remember the open arms of the prodigal son - that welcome is for you. Repent, and believe the good news.

This sermon was preached in St Elizabeth's Church, Dundonald on Sunday 6th March 2011.