Psalm 51; Isaiah 43:19-25; Revelation 2:1-7; Matthew 11:20-30
He was
the leader of a powerful nation. Under
his governance, this nation had conquered its enemies, expanded its
territories, and amassed incredible wealth.
Popular and powerful, he led his nation from a struggling pawn of
foreign powers to the peak of its strength and influence -- the standard by
which this nation would forever measure itself.
He enjoyed the fruits of his success by living in unparalleled luxury
and enjoying whatever he desired.
Despite having hundreds of willing and available women at his disposal,
he wanted her. She was beautiful, but
had no standing in society. She was
married. Her husband was a foreigner who
displayed unrivaled loyalty to his adopted home and its leader, even serving
him in his armed forces. There was no
comparison between these two men. To
call the contest for her affection and favors a David vs. Goliath battle would
be accurate but highly ironic, for he was
David. Her name was Bathsheba. David summoned her and she came to him. There were no objections. She did not protest. We can only imagine the motives she had for
wanting to be wanted by the king. But it
was adultery. Secret at first, the
king's sin grew out of his control.
Bathsheba was pregnant. Uriah,
her husband, was away fighting the king's enemies. Adultery lead to further deception and then
conspiracy and then blossomed into murder. Uriah was dead. Bathsheba was David's. The king had his
way. But God was not pleased.
Psalm 51
is the Spirit-inspired prayer of King David after his horrible sins had been
exposed by God's prophet Nathan.
Confronted by his sinful acts, David could have killed the prophet who
stood before him and silenced all of his accusers. But, by God's grace, David acknowledged his
sins and repented of them. There were
consequences, of course, but God's answer to David's prayer of repentance was
to remove his sins from him, to fully restore to him the "joy of
salvation." It is the same answer
that God had given to the sinful people of Israel who lived long before David
when they prayed in repentance. It's the
same answer that those who turn to Him in faith and pray repentantly to the God
who delights in "a broken and contrite heart."
God's
answer to His people's prayers of repentance is the forgiveness that He
purchased for us with the blood of Jesus.
He shed His blood to save us from bloodguilt. He gave up His spirit so that we could
receive His Holy Spirit. He has washed
away all of our iniquities and cleansed us from our sin. Our sins are no longer before us because the
one sacrifice that the Father did delight in has removed them from us
forever. All this and more is ours in
renewal that comes through repentance.
Audio file of the sermon based on this reflection
No comments:
Post a Comment