Prayer While Suffering God’s Discipline

Transcript

GRM 1236
01/26/2020
Prayer while Suffering God's Discipline
Psalm 38
Gil Rugh


We've been looking at some of the psalms together and I'd like to direct your attention to Psalm 38. We sometime back looked at some of the opening psalms, the first half dozen or so, then when we picked up again we jumped further into the book and I like to put some of them together. A number of the commentators noted that often the studies that are done we do with our favorite psalms and we overlook some of the other psalms. But we have to remember this is God's inspired word and every portion of it is precious and important for us. All scripture is God-breathed and profitable. And I have to admit when I came to Psalm 38 my first thought was… I looked over it and said, I think I'll skip that one, maybe we'll go to 39. And then I thought a little bit, well, I ought to look a little closer and I came to appreciate it in a deeper way. But as you look at it, it's probably not one of those psalms where you have verses marked that you have memorized, it doesn't stand out in that way.

In many ways it could be a difficult psalm because David writes and shares his experience as he is undergoing the severe, very severe,, disciplining and chastening of God for sin. That becomes a very personal matter that God uses David to reveal what is going on in his life. He is suffering physically, spiritually, emotionally, and he sees in it the hand of God because he said my sin brought it on me. Now you'll note in the introduction they have titled it “Prayer of a Suffering Penitent,” David is repentant of his sin. It's a psalm of David, it is for a memorial or a remembrance or to remember. What he is doing is bringing before us his experience, he wrote this as he goes through this. And interesting as I thought, here David is experiencing the crushing discipline of God, his cry is if God doesn't intervene I won't be able to survive. And yet he is penning this under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, not knowing that 3000 years later we would be reading his experience. It's because he is physically suffering, the emotional suffering that goes with it, and then the spiritual despair that often accompany these times.

And then you add to that all of his friends and family have abandoned him, and then piled on to that the enemies of David see an opportunity to go on the offensive and attack him and try to use this occasion of difficulty to destroy him. And it is in this context he realizes only God can rescue me. And I realize it's my sin that has brought His judgment on me. And his confidence is it is not God's intention to destroy him, it is God's intention to teach him a lesson, and David shares that with us.

You'll note, he starts…, and he'll start and end basically in the same way and you realize this is an earnest prayer, crying to God. He says in verse 1, “Oh Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger,” asking God to limit what He does in disciplining David. The psalm concludes in verses 21-22, “Do not forsake me, oh Lord, oh my God, do not be far from me! Make haste to help me oh Lord, my salvation,” my Savior. We sing the song, “Where Could I Go But to the Lord.” Where could we go but to the Lord? He is the only one who can rescue us in our despair. Even when his sin is the cause of his trouble, he comes to the Lord for His deliverance.

He'll also repeat, like in verse 9, “Lord, all my desire is before You, and my sighing is not hidden from You.” Down in verse 15, “For I hope in You, oh Lord, You will answer, oh Lord my God.” And you see beginning and ending, then in the middle its focus, but most of it is going to talk about what he is experiencing, what he is going through and his confidence, as other portions of scripture will say, when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold. He sees it as the discipline of God, not for his destruction but for his good.

And I want to say something about physical afflictions, emotional, spiritual that believers experience. David's problem is caused by his sin. Look at verse 3, “There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation,” your wrath. So he recognizes God has brought all this physical problem, “no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of sin.” So he builds here, I'm suffering because God has put His hand of discipline upon me and God is disciplining me in His anger because of my sin. So he takes full responsibility for what is going on, he understands that the hand of God is against him, in that sense, and I am responsible. Down in verse 5, “My wounds grow foul and fester.” So this is the book of Job with the kind of physical affliction he had, and the oozing sores and so on that are repulsive. David's suffering, and it is because, verse 5, “of my folly.” It's another word for sin. We talked about that kind of thing in the book Ecclesiastes, my folly, foolishness, insanity as Ecclesiastes talked about. So often we as believers sin, and then we come to a place of recognizing and what do we say? How could I do that, how could I be so foolish? What stupidity, we realize there is no excuse, that's what he is saying, it's because of my folly. Down in verse 18, “For I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin.” This just adds to it, it is my sin that has done this, but it is not despair because God is a God of salvation.

So sometimes physical affliction, emotional, spiritual is a result of God disciplining us for sin. We don't want to miss that. Sometimes the first thing you need to think of when you are going through something, is there sin in my life? When God is disciplining His children for sin, that child will know it, David would know what is going on. When He is disciplining for sin, you will know it, others may not know it, but you will know it. Sometimes when I have talked to people in this kind of situation, the physical, emotional, spiritual, the first thing I'd say, is there any sin in your life that you are aware of that would necessitate God disciplining you. There is no good to cover it up, God knows us as we are. Part of what He is doing is pressuring us to deal with the sin, and that has happened to David.

But I want to go to the other side. Be careful, not all physical, emotional, spiritual or any kind of suffering is necessarily the result of sin, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. We have studied the book of Job, in Job's case it was not caused by sin and his three friends sinned by telling Job it was caused by sin, that was not their job. So we want to be careful we are clear. I have a little thought for my own mind—does that make sense? I have a thought for my mind. Well, where did I get it? I got it from my mind, that's why it is a thought. Here is what I am thinking. I remind myself, my first responsibility is to know what my responsibility is, that's where I have to start, my first responsibility is to know what my responsibility is. When Job's three friends came, they didn't clear that up, they thought their responsibility was to decide why Job was sick. And so they launched into that. They are severely rebuked by God at the end, and Job has to pray for them so that they are not severely dealt with by God. So we don't want to make a mistake, that I have taken responsibility for something that is not my responsibility. We'll talk more about that as we move through this passage. Job was ill physically, emotionally he suffered, spiritually it drained him and it wasn't because of any sin. In the gospel of John chapter 9 there is a blind man and Jesus' disciples asked Him, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? Jesus said, no one sinned, he was born blind to bring glory to God. We don't want to get on the wrong side of that.

So if we are not clear on these things, and this is what this psalm helped me as I thought through it. I want to be careful that I am where God is on these issues so that I can fulfill my responsibility in a right way. And for David, he has sinned, the Spirit has convicted him and he knows he has sinned and he is guilty. There is no indication of what the sin is, some people try to tie it to the sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. There is no indication of that here or in Samuel in the recording of that sin. Later David numbered the people, that was sin, even Joab knew it was wrong to do it. David said, we're doing it. You know, David could be stubborn, that wasn't just something that hit him and he decided to do it and the next day he woke up and said, that was the wrong thing to do. It took them nine months to count the Israelite males for the census and then when all is done, do you know what David says? I have sinned. Well, where were you? That's why he can call sin folly. Joab told him before he did it, don't do this, you don't need to do this, God takes care of it.

David did it. Do you know what happened? Seventy thousand men in Israel died. No wonder some of David's sins are recorded, they stand out, they make an impact. And David says, Lord you have to stop, it's my sin that has done it. Sin has consequences so we just want to be careful, sometimes sin brings the consequence of physical, emotional, spiritual problems. If that is what is going on in your life, you will know it. If God wouldn't discipline that way, I don't have any idea, I haven't done anything, well, then God is doing it for a different purpose. Just like Job, you haven't sinned. Fine. So be careful, don't insert yourself and think it is my job to say this is what God is doing. But we want to be careful what we do.

For the believer it is always positive. We're doing some of these things, then we can move through the psalm, it will be a narrative kind of event. But come over to the New Testament to Hebrews 12. We don't need to go into all the context here, you've probably studied Hebrews, we've studied it together. But he is encouraging these believers because under pressure they are in danger of moving away from faithfulness in their stand for Christ, faithfulness to God, allowing the pressure of the world to move them. That would be sin and necessitate discipline. But the pressure they are experiencing now is not because of their personal sin. What they have to be careful of is that the pressure that has come to their life does not move them to sin. So there can be physical things that come into your life and you can see no sin that would cause those, you are not aware of that, but if you respond to that improperly, your response is sin. This is what he is warning them about in Hebrews 12. It started in chapter 10 where he warned them about drifting away from the faith. The example is Christ, verse 3 of chapter 12, “who endured such hostility by sinners against Himself.” So you are weary and lose heart, then you begin to look for reasons not to be faithful, to get away from the pressure. “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons.” That's why I say we start by remembering what our responsibility is. They forgot, it is recorded in the Old Testament, the book of Proverbs for example. “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives. It is for discipline that you endure.” You understand this is a disciplining process. Sometimes as your children grow up and you discipline them, you trust that they will grow and appreciate. I know my parents love me and they are disciplining me because they love me. That’s what he says you should recognize. You'll note he says, “for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” Sometimes God's discipline, even when it doesn't involve any specific sin on your part, can be very severe. Scourging was a serious punishment. We don't want to ignore that, God is shaping.

What is He doing? “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children.” Now I realize I am not perfected yet. Job wasn't perfected yet, he was the most righteous man on the face of the earth, we know that because God says it. And yet God brings these trials and this physical suffering and so on into his life. He wasn't done with Job, Job still had things to learn and Job acknowledges that by the end, you get to the end of the book. Severe, that's a scourging. You lose all ten of your children in one catastrophic event, you lose all your wealth, you lose your health, and your friends become your enemies, attacking you for something you have not done, sinning. That's severe scourging, it wasn't for personal sin, but it is part of what God does, so we want to be ready to accept that and recognize it. And those who go through, professing to be believers, and indulge in sin but nothing ever happened, well, if you don't get the discipline of the Lord, you don't belong to Him. So we need to appreciate.

Verse 11, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” So that's what God is doing, developing His character in us, more of His righteousness in us. So the pressure of God, the discipline of God, if it is for a specific sin or sins in your life, you better deal with it. You know how it is with your children, since that is the analogy God uses, you discipline them maybe lightly, but it doesn't have any impact. And sometimes we think I sinned and nothing happened, must not be so bad, I'll move along here. We sin a little more, a little more. It's like your children, all of a sudden it gets to the point discipline has to be crushing. You say, I didn't mean it, I didn't want it…

So come back to Psalm 38. One thing you appreciate, David is a man after God's own heart, a man used to write such precious portions of scripture. He sins and he sometimes sins grievously, obviously he did, whatever the situation was, that is recorded in Psalm 38, but he also deals with it very seriously. We note how the end is. As we ended the end of David's life in the opening chapter of 1 Kings and all is good with him and the Lord. In fact David can talk about his life as being a righteous man and there is nothing against me. We say, wait a minute, there are some records here. But what God has done He has forgiven him and cleansed him. I better not be keeping records God doesn't keep. I have failed to see my responsibility. I don't take God's place, I am a slave in the house of the master as everyone else is.

So we look at David, he starts out very directly, “Oh Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger.” He realizes this is the discipline of the Lord, all he can ask is, Lord, limit it. He realizes there is no hope for him. What am I? This is not unique to David. Come over to Jeremiah, we're not going to look at many passages, but Jeremiah 10:24. And Jeremiah, he is known as the weeping prophet, he wrote the book of Lamentation of Jeremiah. He had a difficult life, not because of his sin, but because of the position God gave him. Verse 23, and we're going to get this with David as well, “I know, oh Lord, that a man's way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.” Remember Ecclesiastes, the Lord determines the time and the events of the time, He is sovereign over it all. “Correct me, oh Lord, but with justice; not with Your anger or You will bring me to nothing.” So Jeremiah is praying the same thing as David.

Back in Psalm 38:1, “Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger,” because just like Jeremiah I'll be reduced to nothing. Could I stand as a mere mortal in the face of God's unrelenting anger and wrath? No. But David is confident this is his loving, heavenly Father. I know His goal is not to destroy me, my sin has necessitated the discipline, but it is severe. “Your arrows have sunk deep into me, and Your hand has pressed down on me.” These are two expressions, we won't take time to look at other passages that use it. But like the arrow…, in those days you see the old pictures, the stone arrowheads and some were made out of iron and some were made out of bronze, some of stone. But when they went in, you know, they are pointed and then you don't just pull them back out because they have those prongs on the back. Well, they are used as a picture, that pain has pierced to the inside, so it becomes a picture of that serious pain. And in those days, how do you get it out? You don't rush into surgery just start cutting him open. And then “Your hand has pressed down on me.” What a picture, this is the hand of God and it is just pressing down on David and David just can feel…, it's like the life is being squeezed out of him. “There is no soundness in my flesh,” he is suffering physically here for this, “because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones,” it is permeating externally and internally. ‘There is no health in my bones because of my sin.” And those two expressions, because of Your indignation, because of my sin. The honesty and openness of David, God, You are overwhelming me, I am being crushed, please relent with Your anger. He doesn't argue, my sin wasn't that serious, I don't think I deserve this. You know the first responsibility, know what your responsibility is. And one thing you don't want to do is tell God what His responsibility is, don't tell Him I don't deserve this, this is too severe. But I can tell the Lord, You won't destroy me because I am His child. I have that confidence, the discipline that I experience is for my good that I might partake of His holiness, as Hebrews 12 says.

“My iniquities are gone over my head,” it's like a flood. You're in the water, some of you swim, and you know what it's like when you've ever gone in the water and it's over you. If you go down in deep water and you hold your breath and you're going up and you say, I don't think I can hold my breath, I'm not going to get up there. I know I can't take a breath until I get to the surface. That is what David is feeling, “My iniquities have gone over my head,” they are like a flood. What has he done? Sometimes it's our reminder, mind your own business. What God has had him record here is David recognizes what is happening to me, is brought on to me by my sin, and it's my sin. I thought it was God's hand. It is, but why has God had to bring this upon me? Because I've sinned. So the picture here is my iniquities have gone over my head “as a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.” So the end of verse 2, “Your hand has pressed down upon me,” but again it's really my iniquities. Because why is God putting the pressure on him? It's my sin that has done it, because this wouldn't happen if I didn't sin so I have brought this on myself.

“My wounds,” verse 5, “my wounds grow foul and fester.” And again Job becomes the example because we get more details and specifics of what he went through, an example. We don't know, God's hands, my every breath is in His hand, He determines. I could take my next breath and my heart could stop and life would be over. So the wounds, it's not a pleasant… He's the king but he is in serious trouble. Why? “Because of my folly,” you see the conviction of sin. David is a man who walked close to God, God dealt with David in special ways and the sin is, we'd say, eating him up. And the realization, look at me, I'm a mess, and it's my sin. And sometimes conviction of sin is good. Now David is not parked in this puddle. You know where he is going, where could I go but to the Lord. That's where he goes, that's where he started out—Lord, limit it, I'm getting the point, I realize. David obviously got to a point like I mentioned when he numbered the people. Why didn't he realize it before? Why did he come in and sin with Bathsheba, then murdered Uriah? It seems insensitive to it all, it's scary, sin is frightening, it ought to scare all of us including believers, because once you get into it you never know where it is taking you. Who would have thought the sweet psalmist of Israel would commit adultery and murder and be the direct cause of the 70,000 men over which he was supposed to rule and provide and protect. Sin is ugly, that's why the pressure of God reveals its ugliness.

It's all because of my foolishness. “I am bent over,” verse 6, “and greatly bowed down; I go mourning all day long.” It's not limited just to physical things, there is the spiritual, the emotional. We need to get real, where am I spiritually, where am I with the Lord? Why is my life unhappy, why am I depressed, why am I discouraged? What is going on? David knows, I'm sinning, I've sinned, I should have stopped it before it started or very quickly. Obviously it is something serious and necessitates God's withering intervention. “I go mourning all day long. For my loins are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh.” “My loins…,” I've been blessed with good health but one time I had a kidney stone, they are not very big. I was in the emergency room, they gave me morphine. How are you? Give me more. We think we've given you enough. No, I'll tell you, you give me more. Why? It's a searing pain. This is what he is talking about, “My loins are filled with burning,” that burning pain, can't take it. “I groan because of the agitation of my heart.” This is David, this warrior, he is not some delicate flower of a man, he is a warrior, he's been in battle, he's fought lion, he's fought bear, he's fought men. When God squeezes him, he is squeezed. “I groan because of the agitation of my heart,” I have all this going on and my heart… it is troubling him, pain has a way of doing that. You suffer pain long, pretty soon you get depressed, you lose your perspective, then you begin to wonder about my relationship with God and what is going… All these things pile on. Happened to Job and it wasn't caused by his sin, happened to David, it was caused by his sin. So where I want to start is, Lord, is there anything in my life? He doesn't discipline me and not tell my why if it's for my sin. If it's not for my sin, then Lord, I don't need to know why, You know. It's for my holiness, to develop Your righteousness in me, Your glory and I will accept it as that. That's what Job was left to do.

He continues on, verse 9, and here he comes back to the Lord. He has talked about how great his suffering is, how overwhelming it is. Then you come to verse 9, “Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You.” Lord, I know You see me as I am, You hear me, You know my despair. It's asking for His intervention. “My heart throbs, my strength fails me; and the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me.” Lord, I don't know what to do, I don't think I can survive, that's what he is saying. He knows his desire. David wants to deal with this sin. Sometimes we just want to…, as though it is nothing. Sin is never just nothing. David committed murder, committed adultery, and then he says, Lord, it is against You and You only have I sinned. That's the great horror of sin, it's against a holy God. Of course, other people were affected, 70,000 men died in Israel when he numbered the people. How many family, family members, relatives of loved ones were affected by the death? Bathsheba, Uriah, others? But it all pales into insignificance when I realize I have sinned against God. You know my heart, you know me. My sighing, it comes from within, Lord; my sin, I see it as terrible as it is, I don't have anymore strength.

Then he says, and you know what? I don't have anybody to comfort me. Note three groups of people, verse 11, “my loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague; and my kinsman stand afar off.” Those that I thought I could depend on, those that were close to me, those that loved me, they have all abandoned me, for whatever reason they are not there. I want to say, this struck me as I contemplated this psalm. Sometimes you put yourself in there, I don't want to put myself in David's place right now, but where would I have been if I were one of his friends, his loved ones? Would I have been part of the problem or part of the solution? David is in conversation with the living God, the One who forgives him, who will make him well, and his friends and those close to him ought to be there to be part of the restoration. This is important, takes me back to my statement, my first responsibility is to know what my responsibility is. And I think these friends may have stumbled, just like Job's three friends. They came, great, they came to comfort him but they didn't comfort him, they ended up attacking him. They thought they were there to tell Job what the problem was. They should have thought, what was their responsibility, we've come to comfort Job, to help him maybe in any way we can. But they are not God. So that balance. I could think, I saw David, maybe I knew what his sin was, I thought what he was suffering not somebody I want to be around. But God will be around them. David is coming into the presence of God with his prayers. Who am I to stand off?

Come over to the New Testament, I have a couple passages to share with you. We'll go to Galatians 6 first. Paul has written a firm, harsh letter to the Galatians, he said anyone who is teaching any different gospel than he preached is anathema, cursed to hell. And he is drawing a line there, where are you, believer or unbeliever? But then be careful, chapter 6, “Brethren,” verse 1, “even if anyone is caught in any trespass,” that's a word used for sin because you have trespassed against God's will, God's word, God's law, “you who are spiritual” reject “such a one.” No, “restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.” And be careful that you don't get drawn into the sin. “Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ,” we love one another. If I read that of David, his friends, that's understandable. It may be understandable but it is not acceptable. That's for us as believers. Believers are going to sin, they are not to be discarded. If they persist in sin there has to be discipline, it may involve separation for a time. But it's never for rejection, it's always for restoration.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 2:5, and Paul had written the first letter to the Corinthians, and I think it probably applies to what is going on in this second letter in the second chapter, about a man who persisted in sin, in immoral activity and relationship. And he wouldn't stop and the church just acted as though it were nothing. Paul came down on them hard. Evidently when you get to this letter, the second letter in chapter 2 the man has repented, the church is not sure they ought to welcome him back. And he says in verse 4, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears,” and if this man “has caused anyone sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me,” I don't want to talk about the impact it had on me but it's impact on you. Verse 6, “Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority.” Now “on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him,” otherwise he'll be overcome by excessive… David has recognized his sin, it is against God, I'm crushed by it, the realization of it overwhelms me. Where are my friends? Well, you haven't suffered enough. I have to stop, what is my responsibility in this situation? Not to continue to reject.

Come back to Matthew 18, and here we have what we know as the chapter on church discipline, but it's really a chapter on the restoration of a wandering sheep. He talks about how pressure, verse 10, “the little ones,” and he used children but now he has transitioned to show the family relationship, how precious everyone of God's children is to Him. Verse 10, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones,” and he is talking about believers here, not little kids particularly. “I say to you their are angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Then a picture of a shepherd who has 100 sheep and 99 of them stay where they should and one wanders. That shepherd just doesn't count that one wandering sheep as not that important, it's only 1%, we're doing good. No, he leaves the 99 and goes to restore the one, verse 14, “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” Do you know what? David had that knowledge a thousand years before Christ came, that's why he is calling on God. You won't destroy me, Your goal is not that I perish. It's not new information when Jesus gives it here, it's not God's purpose, not God's will that anyone of these little ones… So then we come to what we call the steps of discipline, which are to restore the wandering sheep, not to get him out of here, but to get him back here in right relationship to God and God's people. Then Peter says, how often do I go through this? Do I forgive him, every time he comes, I repent, I repent, I'm sorry, won't do it again, I'm done with it. Seven times? Seventy times, seventy times seven. I have to stop, my responsibility is to know what my responsibility is. Where are David's friends? I think to myself, where would I have been? And David's situation was such serious sin, and dealing with God would I be one of those friends that were removed? Why have the friends abandoned? He has made it right, they are there to be part of the restoration process that God is doing. You know when all is said and done, God declares David righteous. I better be on God's side on these things.

So come back to Psalm 38. I don't want to just run through this and say that's understandable if loved ones, friends, kinsmen stand far off. They ought to be right there ready to restore him. We could go to Thessalonians, Thessalonians says if you have to cut off a brother, you don't treat him as an enemy, you treat him as a brother and try to restore him. You know what the enemy does, verse 12, “Those who seek my life lay snares for me, and those who seek to injure me have threatened destruction, and they devise treachery all day long.” This is part of the relentless battle between good and evil, between the children of the devil and the children of God. The children of the devil see a weakness, a failure, a flaw in the believer, they are on it, this is our occasion to destroy him, to ruin him. That's not what God's people do. This reveals who belongs to God and who does not. It's the enemy who desires to destroy, that's the devil’s desire, to destroy. So they see this as an opportunity, now we have a chance, he is suffering, he is down, he is at a low spot. Pile on, we'll just add to it, we can break him, we can bring him to ruin, that's the enemy.

What is David's response? He is not in a position to do battle, this warrior is at the low point. “I, like a deaf man, I do not hear,” verse 13, “I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth. Yes, I'm like a man who doesn't hear, and in whose mouth are no arguments.” What can I say? Now they are attacking me, they are piling on. He's aware he has sinned. Those are piling on just to try to magnify the sin and make it worse. They are not helping anything, they would say, I have to be satisfied with squeezing every ounce out that we think… God decides what is deserved, I don't. That's why, he repents, I forgive. The enemy, no, I'm not done, he is still breathing, we'll destroy him, we'll destroy his kingship. David said, I don't have an answer, there is nothing I can say, what do I do?

Verse 15, “I hope in You, oh Lord, You will answer, oh Lord my God.” That's why I say I want to be on God's side in these things. If God is going to stand up for David, that's where I want to be. When David sinned with Bathsheba, it was the godly in Israel who stood with David, it was the ungodly who went on the attack, even from his own family. Absalom is not in the hall of faith, neither is Amnon. The godly stood, why? I want to stand where God is, God is forgiving him, I surely better. I hope in You, oh Lord, You are my answer, You will deal with the enemy, You have to be the One to not let them destroy me. I've given them an open door, but You decide what happens to me, they don't. They think they do, but they don't.

“For I said, ‘May they not rejoice over me, who, when my foot slips, would magnify themselves against me. For I am ready to fall, my sorrow is continually before me. For I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin.” All I can do, Lord, is cast myself on Your mercy, I make no excuse, it was my sin, my sin only. Remember, no one ever causes you to sin, no one is ever the excuse for your sin, your sin is your sin, my sin is my sin. But you don't know what they did to me. No, but the issue is what did I do? Well, I wouldn't have done that if they didn't do that. Well, their sin doesn't give you a right to sin. That's why I say, we want to be careful that we are clear, what is my responsibility? I want to be on the Lord's side, who is on the Lord's side? I want to be on the Lord's side. The Lord is on David's side, that's where I am. That doesn't mean I excuse his sin. I don't want to partake in that and David has confessed it, he says it's weighing on me.

“But my enemies,” verse 19, “are vigorous and strong, and many are those who hate me wrongfully.” Wait a minute, I thought he sinned, they have a right to hate him. They do not, again, I have to know what my responsibility is, put it in perspective. The enemies are vigorous and strong, many who hate me wrongfully. When God declares him forgiven, it's done, he is forgiven. I say, I'll have to check that out and see. I don't think so. Who's going to decide? Would I have decided… Let's see, David committed adultery with Bathsheba, murdered her husband, and you know there was a group of soldiers that had to die with Uriah so it looked good. I don't think he should be king anymore, I don't think he should have Bathsheba and they couldn't have any children that God would bless. Says who? Well, that's my opinion. Your opinion is nothing. What did God do? Nathan says, God has put your sin away, you're not going to die. Then you'll have a child with Bathsheba and I'll call him Jedidiah, the one whom God loves. And I'll run him to the head of the line past the older sons and he is going to be the king. I don't make God's decisions for Him, He makes His decisions and I submit to them. And that's where we come to His Word.

“Those who repay evil for good, they oppose me, because I follow what is good.” Wait a minute, I thought you were this wretched sinner, now you are telling me you follow what is good. He's not a perfect man. God has forgiven him. I'm glad He does, it encourages me, doesn't encourage me to sin but it encourages me to know that I am forgiven when I do. The pattern of David's life is as a godly, righteous man, he is when he is writing this psalm, the Spirit has to move him to write these words.

“Do not forsake me, oh Lord; oh my God, do not be far from me! Make haste to help me, oh Lord, my salvation.” What more godly response could you have? I have cast it all on You. He can't undo the sin he has done, all he can do is cast himself on the mercy of the Lord for forgiveness. How sad it is, people don't; how sad it is, believers don't. The best thing is don't sin, the best thing is if you do, deal with it quickly. The best thing if God intervenes in discipline, acknowledge it, recognize it and trust Him. And if its not you, recognize your role, I'm not one of the enemy, I want to see him restored. I've had people come from other churches, this is my advice. First, I say what is your responsibility in this? How do you fit in this? You have to decide first what is your responsibility, you are here to ask me about the responsibility of those elders, then asked me about the responsibility toward that person who sinned. First what is your responsibility? Where are you with the Lord, first? Now what is your responsibility? Now let's act on that to be biblical. We have a gracious God. I don't know what David did and God kept that between Him and David, but all of us can be encouraged. He is a forgiving God, His discipline for us, even when it is for personal sin, is so we partake of His holiness, that's how important it is. And sometimes He disciplines us without any sin particularly involved, but we are still being developed and matured, in all of that we can give our thanks to God as well.

Let's have a word of prayer. Thank you, Lord, for Your word, for this precious portion. Thank you, for the experience of David, Lord, we can identify because all of us, even as Your children, have stumbled in many ways. Thank you, for moving him to write what he was going through so it could be preserved to be an encouragement to us and realize You are a serious God, You are a loving, heavenly Father and we are responsible to You, and You take seriously our actions, our thoughts, the walk of our lives. We want to be faithful. We are thankful, Lord, that when we stumble You pick us up, You cleanse us, wash us and we go on in our walk with You. I pray for any who are here who do not know Your forgiveness, that this might be a day of salvation by faith in Christ. For those of us who have, Lord, may we be careful to examine our lives to be sure that we are fulfilling our responsibility before You. We pray in Christ's name, amen.