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Oct 08, 2017

Until Regret Becomes Repentance

Until Regret Becomes Repentance

Passage: Psalms 51:1-19

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Psalms

The seeds of reformation had been sown long before Martin Luther published his grievances with the state of the church in October, 1517. But it can be argued the Reformation began in earnest with Luther’s first of 95 Theses: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' (Matthew 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Life is, and is found in, repentance. Our problem with it involves either a too-shallow form, or one which loses sight of the very Grace that leads us to it. We’ll listen to David’s most poignant prayer of repentance to recover what it is to turn away from sin and unto life again in God. His search for reconciliation with God is our search, too.

Themes: The seeds of reformation had been sown long before Martin Luther published his grievances with the state of the church in October, 1517. But it can be argued the Reformation began in earnest with Luther’s first of 95 Theses: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' (Matthew 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Life is, and is found in, repentance. Our problem with it involves either a too-shallow form, or one which loses sight of the very Grace that leads us to it. We’ll listen to David’s most poignant prayer of repentance to recover what it is to turn away from sin and unto life again in God. His search for reconciliation with God is our search, too.

Order of Worship

Prelude: Love > Fear
Call To Worship: Isaiah 6:1-5 ESV
Reading: Romans 5:1-2, 6-8 ESV
Central Text: Psalm 51:1-19
Sermon Title: Until regret becomes repentance
Response: The Convicting Spirit (adapted from The Valley of Vision)
Benediction: Philippians 1:6 & 2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV

10.08.17 Lyrics

10.08.17 Slides

Illustrations

Munich - My Soul

Readings & Related Scripture

Call To Worship: Isaiah 6:1-5 ESV

Leader: In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

All: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Leader: And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said:

All: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Reading: Romans 5:1-2, 6-8 ESV
LEADER: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—

ALL: 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Central Text: Psalm 51:1-19
Psa. 51:0 TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN NATHAN THE PROPHET WENT TO HIM, AFTER HE HAD GONE IN TO BATHSHEBA.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Psa. 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Psa. 51:13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psa. 51:18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Response: The Convicting Spirit (adapted from The Valley of Vision)
ALL: O blessed Spirit of Christ, conveyor of all grace and truth
Come work repentance in my soul;
Melt my heart with the majesty and mercy of God.
Show me my ruined self and the grace there is in Him.

May I confide in His great love through faith.
Bear His image.
Observe His laws.
Pursue His service.
Bind thyself to Jesus alone.

Help me to receive Him.
Walk in Him.
Commune with Him.
Conform to Him
Find in Him wisdom, righteousness,
redemption, and renewal.

Benediction: Philippians 1:6 & 2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV
ALL: 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

LEADER: 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Post-Service Text: 1 John 3:2-3
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Related Scriptures:
Luke 15:4-7
Ephesians 2:17, 22
1 John 3:2,3
2 Corithians 7:10
10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Psalm 32
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. 5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. When you were younger and found to have wronged someone (or something), how did you respond? So far as you can remember, what did your response mean to you?
  2. Why would David see his every sin as ultimately committed against God? What if any good can come from seeing our own sin in that way?
  3. If David’s prayer is in search of both a change in “status” and a change in “nature,” why do we believe the Gospel of Jesus answers that search?
  4. Why might an interest in helping others to find a way out of their sin naturally follow from having recognized the Grace that covers one’s own?
  5. How is confession distinct from, yet related to, repentance? How might a regular pattern of confession contribute to, as Martin Luther put it, a “life of repentance”?

Quotes:

  • The central human drama is the heart in conflict with itself. William Faulkner
  • . . .every single person alive, as meek and mild as they seem, can be dangerous given the right set of circumstances. Bryan Cranston
  • If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
  • My problem is not just the need of pardon for a particular wrong but deliverance from the predicament of myself.
    J. L. Mays
  • For all [my friend’s] secrecy and his fear of being seen, he was touched that we had observed him so closely, and with such love. He loved that we knew him. This is one reason people… believe in God–because we want someone to know us, truly, all the way through, even the worst of us. Tim Kreider
  • This doctrine teaches us to think no worse of others than of ourselves; it teaches us that we are by nature, companions in a miserable, helpless condition, which under a revelation of divine mercy, tends to promote mutual compassion. Jonathan Edwards

Sermons/Resources:

He Came to Himself - Timothy J. Keller; Luke 15:11-20

A Broken and Contrite Heart God Will Not Despise by John Piper; Psalm 51

Broken Bones - Charles H. Spurgeon; Psalm 51:8

Don’t look now but your soul toupee is showing by David Zahl at Mbird.com

Related Songs & Media

10.08.17 Album

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