True Repentance: A Journey of Heart Transformation

We're going to continue today with our study of the penitential Psalm of David, Psalm 51, where we get an insight into what true repentance is as the words of the psalm are inspired by the Holy Spirit. In our last session we looked at verse five in which David confessed not only the actual sin that he had committed, but also confessed that he was a person who was born in sin, that he had a sin nature, and he confessed that in verse five saying, "Behold I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." [00:00:05]

I find it interesting here that David says to the Lord not only, "God I know that what You want and what you desire from us is truth," but he adds to it, truth in the inward parts, truth that is not just a matter of superficial extraneous things, but something that comes from the very depths of our being. The Old Testament frequently made reference to this kind of truth where we read, for example, "That as a man thinks in his heart so is he." [00:00:54]

Now when the Scripture says that, "That as a man thinks in his heart so is he," it's not that Old Testament people imagined that the heart was the organ of thinking and not the brain. They understood that thought was in the mind and not in the heart and that the heart was the organ that pumped blood throughout the body, but what they mean when they speak that way as Hebrews is that there are ideas or concepts or truths that we entertain on the surface of our thinking, but they never penetrate to the bloodstream. [00:01:32]

And this is what David is recognizing here in his repentance -- that this sin that he had committed with Bathsheba revealed that there was something profoundly wrong at the middle or at the core of his being, that sin comes from the depth of our being and is not just accidental or on the peripheral aspects of human life. He said, "God, You desire truth in the inward parts." [00:02:49]

And Jesus after He said this Peter replied -- asked Him to explain it to him. Jesus said, "Are you still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach, and is eliminated, but those things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemy. These are the things that defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." [00:04:38]

And when a person is truly repentant it's not a superficial thing and David acknowledges, "God, You want from me not a performance. You don't want just to be play acting as a righteous man or as a penitent man. You want truth from me, and You want it to proceed from the very center of my being." And then he goes on and says, "And in the hidden part, You will make me to know wisdom." [00:06:21]

Now he again turns to the metaphor of cleansing, which he's already used on one occasion in the prayer. In verse seven he says, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Now I find it fascinating that he appeals here to a cleansing substance that is called hyssop because we find that earlier in the Old Testament integrated into the religious rites and cleansing rites of Israel. [00:07:05]

And this is what David is saying, "Oh God, in Your sight, I'm a leper. I need cleansing like the leper needs to be cleaned. Purge me with hyssop." That's the request. "And I shall be clean, because God, I am dirty in Your sight." You know, if we look at people's experiences of encountering the holiness of God in the Scripture and when they become acutely conscious of their sin, we see two desires that come to the fore over and over and over again. [00:11:41]

Indeed we recall that the very first act of redemption after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, they became immediately conscience of the nakedness, and they were ashamed, and so they hid themselves from the presences of God. And when God came and encountered them, and even though He rebuked them and placed His curse upon them, nevertheless, He condescended, He stooped down, and He made clothes for His embarrassed creatures. He covered their shame. [00:12:40]

We say to people, "God loves you unconditionally." And the unbelieving person, when he hears that announcement, hears the preacher saying, "Well no matter what I do I am acceptable to God. I really don't need to repent." And we are so zealous to win people to Christ that we'll conceal the requirement of repentance from them to make it easier. We want to facilitate a person's entrance into a saving relationship with Christ, and we don't want to bring up the unpleasant business of the need to repent because repentance is painful. [00:15:56]

Now let me say something here. One of the difficult things that the Christian has to be able to discern is the difference between the conviction of sin that is the work of the Holy Ghost and the accusation of Satan. We tend to think that the primary and perhaps even exclusive work of Satan in the life of the Christian is that of temptation, that he is the tempter who seeks to entice us into disobedience. And he does do those things, we know that. [00:17:51]

Now if the Holy Spirit comes to convict us of sin, and Satan comes to accuse us of sin, and they are directing their attention at the same sin, how can we tell the difference between the conviction of the Spirit and the accusation of Satan? I believe that you understand it in the method of operation and the goal. Satan's goal when he accuses us of sin is to drive us to despair, to give us a sense of hopelessness, that yes, we are guilty and there is no escape from our guilt. [00:20:14]