Make Me New

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Have you ever known something that you did was wrong?

YES!

Did you rationalize it? Did you blame someone else? Did you ever try to cover it up?

YES, YES, AND YES.

This is what King David did.
He had an adulterous relationship with the wife of one of his trusted soldiers. Then David found out the woman, Bathsheba, was pregnant. In order to try and hide his relationship, David brought Uriah back from the war for a "three day pass." David was hoping that Uriah would be with his wife, his wife would tell Uriah that she was pregnant and David's relationship with Bathsheba would be a "non issue." 

The plan didn't work. Uriah didn't spend the time with Bathsheba. So David had to devise another lie in order to hide his sin.

He ordered the soldiers to step away from Uriah in the heat of battle so that Uriah would be killed. And Uriah was. David thought he was in the clear. He took Bathsheba to be his wife. 

So Was David in the Clear?
No he wasn't. David's pastor, Nathan, confronted David with the sins of lust, coveting, adultery, and murder. David could hide his sin from men. He could never hide his sin from God.

So David Wrote Psalm 51
Today's passage is a portion of Psalm 51. It is David's plea to forgive him.

Create in me a clean heart, O 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.

David was forgiven. David's heart was cleaned through his confession of sin and the mercy of God. His life was restored with salvation and joy. David's life remained in the presence of God.

Confession and Absolution:
There is no sense to try and hide sin from God. It can't happen. It will be found out. Your best course of action is to confess your sin to God. God will take away your sin. He did it already through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. HE removed your sin from you and through it on the cross. And there it stay. Sin confessed is sin forgiven.

Does That Mean We're Free and Clear?
Yes. Your sin is gone. Your life was change. You have a new spirit in your life. God is always with you.

And no. Sin always carries consequences. What happened to David and Bathsheba? Even though David was forgiven, there was a consequence to his sin. The son, who was conceived in the adulterous relationship, died. 

You may struggle with consequences with your sin. Yet that struggle is tempered by the new life you were giving by God.

Did you know that God suffered consequences of forgiving you of your sins? Jesus died so that your sins are forgiven. That is the result of forgiveness. AND Jesus rose so that we who died to sin will rise to new life as well.

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