Sermon Tone Analysis
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March 5, 2012
By John Barnett
Read, print, and listen to this resource on our website www.DiscoverTheBook.org
Psalm 51 is a roadmap to anyone who has ever gotten away from the Lord; it is a beacon that clearly captures for us the roadway back to God.
David fell so far, so fast, and he didn’t even realize it until the dullness of his soul spread to every inch of his spiritual life.
Soon his cold and lonely heart was combined with his tormented soul and trapped in a painfully chastened body.
And he stayed at the bottom like that for almost a year.
Does that length of time surprise you?
After all, think of whom it was that had fallen so far away from the God he passionately loved and served.
For David was a man who:
*Getting out of The Ditch of Sin*
How deep was the ditch, it was deep because David had known God so closely, so warmly, and so completely.
David:
• Was talked to directly by God through inspiration;
• Knew the indwelling presence of God the Spirit;
• Had the direct line to God’s throne by way of prophets;
• Could enter the very tent of God built to the Lord’s specs;
• Perhaps held the very scrolls Moses had written down;
• May have seen the stone tablets of the Law that were kept in the Ark of the Covenant;
• Had seen God’s supernatural protection month after month in hand-to-hand combat.
David was never defeated on the battlefield and, as far as we know, never even wounded in spite of the tens of thousands of weapons that had at some time been aimed at him by those who hated him and wanted him dead.
David was a man who knew God, experienced God’s presence, loved God, sang scores of songs inspired by God, wrote chapters of the eternal Word of God—and yet he seemed to lose touch with God for a YEAR!
Amazingly, David hid this well as he went through the motions of being the king.
After all, he was still God’s leader—the sweet psalmist of Israel, head of the family line that would never end, and the one through whom the Christ would come.
But like an engine without fuel or an electronic device with no power, those blessings and benefits meant nothing when he walked away from the Lord and stayed away for a long time.
To the casual observer, it may have looked like David had gotten away with sin.
But David was God’s man and He would never let His choice servant get by with sin.
In reality, during the interval David kept quiet, he was tormented from within and without—as seen in Psalm 38, which was a prayer of intense lament during chastening.
Psalm 32, which I like to call “The Song of a Soul Set Free,” was probably an expression of his initial gratitude over the relief of forgiveness.
That song shows what really went on in David’s heart during this distressful period.
The self-inflicted stress of those many months was completely debilitating to him:
When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the daylong.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me: my vitality was turned into the drought of summer (Psalm 32:3-4).
If we could have visited the court of David during that nearly year of hidden sin, we would have seen him literally aging before our eyes!
But now
*COMING BACK TO GOD*
Only God could relieve David’s cold, distant, lonely tormented heart by granting complete forgiveness and restoring his joy, peace, and security.
Hence Psalm 51 is all about David, who had been so far away, coming back to the Lord.
It stands as a paradigm of prayers for forgiveness of sins—a divinely inspired roadmap to the path back to God.
As we read this inspired Psalm, watch how David laid bare his soul as he sought restoration from the Lord.
*PSALM 51—*
*A PRAYER OF REPENTANCE*
TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN.
A PSALM OF DAVID WHEN NATHAN THE PROPHET WENT TO HIM, AFTER HE HAD GONE IN TO BATHSHEBA.
1 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may 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 steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
Psalm 51, designed primarily for public reading and worship, is one of the most treasure-laden psalms in the Bible.
It was part of the regular songs of the tabernacle, then the temple, and now the church.
Inspired by the Spirit of God, written by David, the song has been lifted up before God as a memorial to His great love that made Him able and willing to forgive men such as David.
The structure of Psalm 51 was intended for effective communication in public assembly and worship.
Note the emphasis and how it changed:
• *David asked for Forgiveness.*
In verses 1-2, David asked six different yet parallel ways for God to restore and renew him.
• *David took the blame.*
In verses 3-9, David emphasized his responsibility for his sin eight times, but God was not mentioned by Name.
• *God was his desire.*
In verses 10-19, the Holy God against whom David sinned was emphasized twenty times, but sin and sinner were only mentioned once.
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