Coming Back Home

Being involved, as I am, in international evangelism, I spend a great deal of time in airports, train depots, and bus stations. I see all kind of people. One of the things I do to pass the time is speculate on the destination of the people around me. Sometimes I imagine them going to exotic locations like Fiji or Tahiti. Other times I see them as salesmen on the way to Peoria.

I don’t mind traveling. There are trips we all look forward to going on – vacations, golf outings, fishing trips, to a ball game and so forth. There are other trips that we don’t look as forward to but we know we need to take them nonetheless – like trips to the doctor or dentist. But I can tell you in all honesty, my favorite trip is when I am coming back home.

There is one trip that many of us have been on. You booked it years in advance and some of you are still on that trip today. It is the guilt trip. You loaded your luggage with past regrets, and boarded the emotional plane of un-forgiveness assisted by the stewardess of bitterness only to discover that your plane is in the hands of Captain Condemnation. You snack on pent-up remorse and take a sip of “what might have been cola” while enduring the flight never seems to end.

I recently read about a man who was on this same plane. It was a story of sexual passion that led to adultery. The wife’s lover arranged for her husband to be murdered! This was not a story on Hollywood Insider, but rather from 2 Samuel 11 and 12. The names of the lovers were David and Bathsheba and the murdered husband was the army commander, Uriah.[1]

Today we are going to look to Psalm 51 and hopefully discover, through David’s penitent journey, our own way back home. Regardless of where you have been, what you have done, or with whom you have done it, God loves you, wants to set you free from the bondage of sin, and invite you to Come Back Home. Notice with me that first of all,

His Appeal to God
(Psalm 51: 1-2)

By the time we read these verses, David has come to his senses. He approaches God in Holiness. He writes, “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy loving kindness … “(v1). David recognized and appealed to the nature and character of God. The first step to recovery, of any sort, is a proper understanding of who God really is. David did not yet refer to him, as “my God” for that would have been presumptive, because of his own sinfulness but he appealed to God in Holiness.

The first verse of this Psalm goes on to show us that he appealed to God in Honesty when he said, “according to the greatness of Thy compassion” (v2). Here we see David’s faith coming through. Although he was captive by sin, he still had the Word of God in His heart. We appeal to God because he understands that although he is a sinner, he still belongs to God. This relationship was not built on performance, but on promise. It was built on a covenant rather than on circumstances. Aren’t you glad to know that? God’s love for you is unconditional. If you are in relationship with God through the blood of Jesus Christ, nothing, no nothing can ever take His love away from you. Realizing this, David came to God in holiness, in honest, and then in Humility. Psalm 51 continues by stating, “blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” (1c-2). There are three distinct words that David used her, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Blot out implies that I have a record that needs to be cleared. It has with it the idea of an “accounts payable” debt that could not be paid. It’s like a credit card debt that keeps getting larger and larger with no hope of settlement. David says, I need to have my account cleared. Another illustration is that of a dirty plate, covered with the remains of a meal that needs to be wiped clean. David is pleading, I need to be wiped clean; “Blot out, make clear, wipe away my transgressions!” The psalmist then says, “Wash Me” – I am very dirty and need to be scrubbed. This is the picture of a person taking a dirty garment and beating it against a rock, or trampling under foot the dirty garments; over and over again until they are clean. He concludes this verse by imploring, “Cleanse me. “ This gets to the very heart of the matter. It was the word used of a leper, unclean and unacceptable. “I am no longer fit to come into the presence of God or the company of believers.” All of this is said by David to communicate his actual standing before God. Notice that David is the subject of all this discussion. He writes in the first person, “Be gracious to me … blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” Understanding our sinfulness before God is a deeply personal matter. Notice secondly …

His Admission of Guilt

Beloved, it is imperative that we get a clear picture of this point in the story. There is no homecoming unless we are willing to call sin exactly what it is! David used the right terminology, he did not try and candy-coat his sinfulness, and neither must we. It is always a matter of integrity. David had fallen far and needed to come clean before God and before himself. He uses three distinct words to describe his guilt. “Blot out my transgressions” (v3). This is a word that communicates his willful acts of rebellion. It literally means a “high-handed” and deliberate rebellion. He is saying, “I knew what I was doing and did it willfully. I planned it out! “O God, mark it out!”

“Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity” (v3). This is a word that conveys the understanding of perversion. David admits that this is his very nature. “It’s who I am. I am full of perversion; not truth but lies.” Here David says, the dye of sin is immovable. I have laid in it so long it is ingrained in me. Wash me over and over again. “O God, it’s going to take a thorough scrubbing to clean this out of me.”

On a mission trip to Togo, W. Africa I walked into a business that dyed fabric and sold tie-died bolts of cloth. The workers wore no gloves and their hands were all stained blue, indigo, and red. Everyone in the vicinity knew who worked at this factory by his or her hands. No cleaner on earth was able to clean the dye off of his or her hands. This is what Isaiah had in mind when he wrote,

"Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.

--Isaiah 1:18 nasb

David is really crying our, “don’t just cancel my sin, but clean my spirit.”

Next David begs, “cleanse me from my sin” (v3). This is the archery term that means to miss the mark, to fall short, or to stumble. The sinful King admits, “I am not what I ought to be. I am dirty and diseased – like a leper.” The summary of David’s confession is simple: I owe a debt; cancel it! I am dirty; continually wash me! I am diseased; cleanse me! Yes, David used the right terminology. I am also impressed to note David’s Testimony. It is a painfully open and vulnerable confession of sin. “Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight, so that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, and blameless when Thou dost judge. (V4). “I am guilty! All of my sinfulness has been against you O God. I am fully deserving of everything I am getting.” David does not try and place the blame on anyone else. One of the biggest mistakes we make in our confession process is in trying to rationalize our guilt. We blame other people, other circumstances, and other things. The truth of the matter is that we are sinners by birth and sinners by choice. Today, whatever you are struggling with, has at its root your own sinfulness before God.

Next this man of God admits that he realizes that God is God! He is saying to Jehovah, “You are justified in your judgment of me. I have nothing to say in my defense. You are right God, I am wrong. Have mercy on me.” This is the whole of David’s testimony. “You are Just … I am just a sinner!”

Finally in his admission process, we see David’s Theology. John Phillips reminds us that

“He set down for the record the basic fact that sin was his inheritance as a human being. He was a son of Adam, member of a fallen race.”[2]

He confesses that his nature is sinful. I was born in Sin. David has a birthmark that we all share. The modern man and even many preachers and theologians hate verse 5. The modern mind wants to talk about “God in man” rather than “sin in man.” The source of sin is in our souls, not in our surroundings! [3]

David further elaborates on this by saying, I was blinded by Sin. This exposed his deep needs. He is admitted that the heart of man is desperately wicked. We are all, by our very nature, estranged from God. We are blind to the truth of God. We act on our impulses and fleshly drives. This is what David had done. When he was in the arms of Bathsheba, David knew what he was doing was wrong – no doubt about it. His hormones, not his head and heart controlled him. The same is true of each one of us. When we sin against God, it is almost always true that we know what we are doing is wrong. We are not a sinner because we do sinful things rather; we do sinful things because we are a sinner.

David has now come clean with himself and before God. I want you to do the same thing today. You cannot come back home, until you first admit your guilt. Have you done this? Remember, we have a choice to make in regards to our sins. We can try and cover them, conceal them, or we can confess them. I urge you, by the Word of God to confess your sins. The Bible says,

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. –

I Jn 1:8-9 nasb

Now that David has confessed, he is ready to move forward. Notice with me

His Application to Grace

In the next six verses we have a thorough exposé on the ravages and consequences of sin in the life of a believer. In light of all these things, David is asking that God’s grace be applied to his sin. Remember the old Puritan saying, “Grace is to buried sin what water is to fire!

Although David was a powerful potentate, he could not cope with the consequences of sin and neither can we. “Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (V7). David felt defiled, contaminated, and dirty. He could find nothing but the grace of God to cleanse him. The hyssop was a common Palestine herb used as a sprinkler in various ceremonial cleansings of the leper. David wanted what only God could give him.

“Make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which Thou hast broken rejoice.” (V8). He had become deaf because of sin. David wanted to be able to hear the voice of God again. Only the grace of God could enable him to hear the joy and gladness of God. Today, are you hearing clearly the voice of God? If not, it is because of un-confessed, un-cleansed sin in your life.

“Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.” (V9) Sin has disgraced David. He could no longer hold his head up and face people. More importantly he could not face God. He was ashamed of what he knew God had seen in his life! Only the grace of God could blot out his iniquities so that he could lift up his head again!

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (V10) David realized that sin had damaged him beyond repair. He is crying out here, not to be repaired, but to be regenerated! God’s grace is the means whereby we are transformed, not reformed.

“Do not cast me away from Thy presence, and do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me.” (V11) David felt devastated! He could imagine nothing worse than loosing the presence and power of God in his life.

“Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.” (V12) David understood depression. He was weak and anemic because of the sin in his life. He needed the grace of God to restore to him joy that comes only through forgiveness. Karl Menninger, the famed London psychiatrist, once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that theirs sins were forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day![4] Today, you need to accept the forgiveness of God for you sins and realize that He removes them “as far as the east is from the west.” David never wanted to fall into such a state again. He is appealing to the grace of God.

Beloved, there is nothing more powerful than the grace of God. Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. I beg you, today, my application to the grace of God to overcome, cancel, forgive, restore, renew, and transform you into all that He wants you to be. The final thing I want us to notice in this powerful Psalm is …

His Anticipation of Glory

Something wonderful has happened in David’s spirit. You see this chapter is a chapter of grace and glory. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. There is hope for all who have turned to God in faith and truth. We can be certain that He is a God of restoration. He is a God of second chances. He is the one who brings us back home.

David says three simple things in theses few verses. Listen again to verses 13-19 …

{Then} I will teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners will be converted to Thee. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; {then} my tongue will joyfully sing of Thy righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Thy praise. For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. By Thy favor do good to Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem. Then Thou wilt delight in righteous sacrifices, in burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then young bulls will be offered on Thine altar.

--Ps 51:13-19 nasb

First David acknowledges the glory of preaching. Once forgiven, full of joy, faith, and forgiveness David would teach others about the wonderful grace of Jesus. He could say to others, “I know what you are going through, I have been there myself, and God’s grace is sufficient for you!”

Then he proclaims that he will know the glory of praising. The forgiveness of God always brings praise to the lips and in the life of the believer. God puts a song in the heart and spirit of the redeemed.

Redeemed, How I love to proclaim it!

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;

Redeemed thro’ His infinite mercy,

His child, and forever I am.

I think of my blessed Redeemer,

I think of Him all the day long;

I sing, for I cannot be silent,

His love is the theme of my song.[5]

Finally David exclaims that he would once again know the glory of pleasing God.

My friends, God is inviting you to Come Back Home today. Some of you are refusing His invitation. You are holding on to you sin, and it is killing you. Listen to this story. In l880, James Garfield, a lay preacher and principal of his denominational college was elected president of the United States, but after only six months in office, he was shot in the back with a revolver. He never lost consciousness. At the hospital, the doctor probed the wound with his little finger to seek the bullet. He couldn't find it, so he tried a silver-tipped probe. Still he couldn't locate the bullet.

They took Garfield back to Washington, D.C. Despite the summer heat, they tried to keep him comfortable. He was growing very weak. Teams of doctors tried to locate the bullet, probing the wound over and over. In desperation they asked Alexander Graham Bell, who was working on a little device called the telephone, to see if he could locate the metal inside the president's body. He came, he sought, and he too failed. The president hung on through July, through August, but in September he finally died-not from the wound, but from infection. The repeated probing, which the physicians thought would help the man, eventually, killed him. So it is with people who dwell too long on their sin and refuse to release it to God. [6]

Today, whatever you are holding on to needs to have God’s grace applied. It is sufficient for all your needs. Won’t you come back home today?

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[1] Rev. David Coffey, “ Knowing the Way Back” Grace and Glory (Kent, England: OM Publishing, 1992). P.180.

[2] John Phillips, Exploring The Psalms: Volume Two (Neptune, New Jersey: LOIZEAUX BROTHERS, INC., 1986). P90.

[3] IBID, p91.

[4] Today in the Word, March 1989, p8.

[5] Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915

[6] Roger Thompson