Taste and See Revival!
By Pastor Matt Black
01
April 2007
Taste and See Lord’s Day morning
Psalm 51
Open your Bible to the 51st Psalm. The title of this morning’s message is “The Misery of Man and the Mercy of God”. Let’s stand together and read Psalm 51.
Psalm 51, “<<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.>> Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt 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 to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. 13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.”
Introduction: As we come to these verses we see a man that the Lord had called “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22) had become spiritually calloused and was in great need of a revival of his soul.
Context
David was a poor little boy from the tribe of Judah. He was exalted to be King because God sought for “a man after His own heart”. David is known in the Scriptures as a man with a tender broken heart who lived in the presence and joy of God. But here David gets comfortable in his life and his heart becomes full with the comforts of his life and hardened to God. It is a subtle hardness that begins harmlessly, but ends scandalously. Instead of finding his joy in God, he ends up seeking after the pleasure of sin for a season, and then he tries to cover his sin by murdering the Uriah the Hittite, the husband of the woman he had sought his pleasure. David wandered far from God!
If this could occur in David’s life, we must all agree that we are all susceptible to a spiritual hardness. Here was a man that at one moment he was on fire and in love with the Lord, and then without notice he was as cold as ice. The heavens now were as brass. As Robert Robertson wrote in 1758 (Come Thou Fount):
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love
Prone to Wander
It is all too easy for us even as Christians to wander from God. Thankfully a true Christian will never wander very far—God guaranteed our holiness when He saved us, as Ephesians 1:3-4 says, “that we should be holy and without blame before him in love”.
A Christian is called to Holy Living in this Life
When a Christian sins, He is all the more compelled by the Holy Spirit to holy living. God will bring a Christian man or woman, boy or girl to holiness in this life—not just in the life to come. Many people use Psalm 51 as an excuse to sin when it is just the opposite. It is a truth that God will make us holy in this life! God calls us to holiness. “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation” (1 Peter 1:15).
Psalm 51 is a revival encounter with God. What is revival? It is the opposite of cold and dead! It is to be awakened to God. We have learned in Ephesians and also in Colossians that we are “risen with Christ” and “seated in the heavenlies”. That’s not just theological language. That is to be the constant experience of every believer.
Christ is pleading for your holiness
Yet we so often fall into sin, but God has promised to make us holy, so He awakens us! In fact, the Holy Spirit is constantly moving in the hearts of His people to create a hunger and thirst for holiness in their lives. Do you understand that Christ as the Lamb of God, with pierced hands and feet and side is pleading for those He suffered for to be holy? That is a prayer that will most definitely be answered. That prayer was answered in David’s life with swift and amazing personal revival. I want you to see how that if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, God would awaken you today.
God’s Will is a Life Awakened to Him!
It is His will that we should not just have times of revival here and there, but that we should live a life that is awakened to God! How can we experience this revived and awakened life?
Outline:
This morning we are going to learn that the path to Revival and Awakening to God must come through seeing:
We find out in this Psalm that that David’s sin did not satisfy him, and with the help of Nathan the prophet, David was cleansed and restored to an awakened life—a life of revival. The presence of God came down on David on that dark day. God is so good! He’s merciful! His mercy endureth forever.
This morning I want to take us on a journey to the end of ourselves. Let’s get on that path right now, and let’s not leave it until we have a true experience of the Living God!
I. On the path to Revival we must Taste and See the Misery of Sin.
A. First we see that the Loss of sin is miserable.
1. We’ve lost our Purity in God!
– We find ourselves living with Dirty hands!
o Verse 1: “blot out my transgressions”
o Verse 2: “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”
o Verse 3: “I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me”
o Verse 4: “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight”
o Verse 5: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me”
o Verse 9: “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities”
Do you get the idea that David felt dirty? He was once called a “man after God’s heart”, but now sin was blocking his way to God!
Who is it that gets into God presence? Who is it that presents himself before a holy God? Before David’s sin, he had spent some red hot time with God. In Psalm 24:3 David asks, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?” He then answers himself in verse 4, “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart….”
A child of God knows what it is to worship God with clean hands. Only blood bought people can worship a God so “glorious in holiness” (Exodus 15:11).
2. We’ve lost our Joy in God!
- We find ourselves living without Joy!
o Verse 8: “Make me to hear joy and gladness”
o Verse 12: “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
3. We’ve lost the Presence of God in our lives!
- Why is it that we find ourselves living without the power of God’s Presence?
o Verse 11: “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me”
a. David could not lose the indwelling presence of God
b. But he could lose the power of God’s presence. That’s what he feared most!
4. We’ve lost our Heart!
- We find ourselves living Cold, Meaningless lives!
a. We’ve lost our heart for God.
o Verse 10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
b. We’ve lost our heart for Souls.
o Verse 13: “Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”
The Loss of sin is miserable!!!
Then we see that the Level of sin is miserable.
1. The Balance of sin. The weight of our sin is incalculable.
Sin is Treachery against the Almighty.
John Bunyan said, “Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love”
Look at verse 4, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest”.
David recognizes that every sin he commits is not simply against Bathsheba or Uriah, but it is against God. He says: I want to get this straight—I have sinned against a holy, infinite God. This verse is an amazing verse!
David says—the sin’s that I have committed—for those very sins people are and will be suffering an infinite eternal hell. He was “clear” about the judgment of God!
2. The Beginning of sin.
David when understanding his sin goes back to the beginning. He says in verse 5, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
From the womb we are at Enmity with God—hostility and war against God.
So we’ve learned that the Loss of sin is miserable, the Level of sin is miserable, and thirdly…
B. Then we see the Life of sin is miserable.
1. The Life of sin starts out in Small things. I guarantee David did not simply plot one morning to stop loving God and start fornicating and murdering. Sin starts out with a little lie, or a little gossip. It starts out with a little pride—thinking more highly of ourselves. Sin starts by desiring our comfort zone more than God. It starts with an unwillingness to wait on God and to suffer with Him in prayer. It starts with a desire for the easy life.
2. The Life of sin secondly is characterized by the fact that your time with God has Stopped. You cannot serve two masters! 2 Corinthians 6:14ff, “what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial?”
3. At that point a person is totally susceptible to temptation, and begins to Seek the pleasures of this world. Do you understand you were created to worship? You were created for pleasure! You will always seek pleasure. The question is will seek pleasure in God or in this world? At all times you are seeking pleasure in something. Are you seeking pleasures of sin for a season or pleasures.
The Life of sin is miserable. Don’t seek your pleasure in this life from sin—remember what David said in Psalm 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Transition: We are so depraved that we must be sufficiently miserable before we seek God!
II. On the path to Revival we must Taste and See the Mercy of Christ.
A Christian may wander, but God is good to go after you—and to restore you. Sometimes He send prophets like Nathan. Sometimes He sends trials to get our attention. Sometimes He just leaves us alone. God is good to bring us to the end of ourselves!
A. The Availability of Mercy.
Let me say that the Mercy of Christ is the pathway to revival which is another word for worshipping God.
1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
1. Mercy is Available from God alone.
Mercy can be sought by only one person. You can get things right in every area of your life with every person of your life, but since all sin is ultimately against God, you must seek mercy from God. Look at verse 1, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
2. Mercy is Available in Time alone.
Once Judgment Day arrives, time is over, and the Day of Mercy and Grace is over. I cannot emphasize this enough.
Billions will beg for mercy on the Final Day.
None will be given out!
2 Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”.
3. Mercy is Available to the Broken and Contrite ALONE.
Let me emphasize that this is a journey to the end of ourselves. Revival and joy and mercy begins when we end!
John 12:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
Turn over to Mark 8:34-36, “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
What is worth more to you than God? What would you rather do than pray? What would you rather do than get down on your face and worship God? It is an idol!
Matthew 10:37-39, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”
To worship God is essentially to keep yourself from idols. It is simple and basic. 1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
o You must love God more than family (father, mother, son, or daughter)
o More than your life! (riches, possessions, friends, work, hobbies, etc). Anything that you love more than worshipping God is an idol.
o This is the first and most basic commandment.
B. The Abundance of Mercy.
David says in verse 1, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
David says in verse 2, “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” He knows that God is able!
o Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
C. The Awakening of Mercy.
1. On the outside of the door of Mercy is Brokenness.
Look at verse 8: “Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.”
Look also at verses 16-17, “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
You will never come into the full presence of the Lord unless you have come to the end of yourself.
2. On the inside of the door of Mercy is Happiness. A man who is given mercy is awakened to the fact that happiness is found in God.
Actually, it is not quite true to say that happiness is found in God.
Many people love mammon and they seem to love God. Many people seem to have a love for God that is superficially spread over every part of their life, but does not penetrate to any part of their life.
It is not simply in God that we find happiness, but more correctly, happiness is found in God ALONE!!
Where does this happiness in God come from? Let’s examine it…
a. David’s Testimony.
David’s joy was directly connected to knowing his sins were forgiven! Verses 7-12, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”
It is the joy of salvation—the deliverance from the power, presence, and penalty of our sins!!!! This is exactly what the Apostle Peter says.
b. Peter’s Testimony.
Look at 1 Peter 1:8-9, “Jesus Christ: 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”
It comes from believing. Believing what? That we have the end of our faith (verse 9). What’s that? “even the salvation of your souls”.
Your soul is saved from sin! Your sins are washed away!
Psalm 103:11-12, “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
c. The Psalmist’s Testimony. Psalm 130:3-4, “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared [worshipped].”
It is not simply in God that we find happiness, but more correctly, happiness is found in God ALONE!!
Application: Is your soul happy in God alone?
D. Then we see the Application of Mercy.
o Verse 2: “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”
o Verse 9: “7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."
Psalm 103:11-12, “11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
III. On the path to Revival we must Taste and See the Majesty of God.
A. A Realization of the Majesty of God.
Revelation 11:16, “And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God.”
The four and twenty elders are representative of the church of God. The oldest and most common understanding is that the 24 are the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles representing the church of God of all ages. We sing about this in my favorite verse in my favorite hymn:
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who was, and is, and evermore shall be.
What will we do in heaven when we see God? We will fall on our faces as dead!
I want you to see the comfort of John’s Revival experience in Revelation
Revelation 1:10ff, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
We are to live now as if we were in heaven.
Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
B. Response of seeing the Majesty of God
1. A Clean conscience is what gives you assurance of salvation. Verse 14, “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness”.
We think of a clean conscience in the wrong way! We expect to sin! We ought to strive for holiness—to stay away from the guilt—to keep clean hands and a pure heart, constantly confessing our sins, yes, but more than that, letting our worship of God dominate our lives.
A clean conscience leads to evangelism. To have the peace
2. An Open Mouth Verses 15-17, “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise”.
3. A Life Controlled by the Lord. Verse 18, “Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.”
Philippians 4:7-8, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Conclusion: A Christian cannot go on sinning. This is clear. Remember when you were saved? You remember at first the fire of God in your heart. There was a transformation. You knew what it was to have clean hands and a pure heart. Yet, you won’t tell anyone, but you have secretly felt spiritually cold for months, maybe years now. You want to know the joy of your salvation again, but you just don’t know how.
Strive with God until the Misery lifts
Strive with God unitl the Mercy flows
Strive with God until all you see is His Majesty
Don’t allow anything to come between your soul and the Saviour
Nothing
between my soul and my Savior,
Naught of this world’s delusive dream;
I have renounced all sinful pleasure;
Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between.
Nothing
between, like worldly pleasure;
Habits of life, though harmless they seem;
Must not my heart from Him ever sever;
He is my all, there’s nothing between.
You are living a borrowed life! It is not yours. It belongs to God. When was the last time you worshipped God? When was the last time your soul was happy in God alone?
Stop feasting on the world! Are you sick of the world’s carnal diet? The world never satisfies. In Rome they used to have vomitoriums where people would eat until they were full, they would vomit it out and eat some more.
That is the way some of you are living. Are you sick of the world’s diet? It never satisfies! When Christ cleanses you, He will fill you!
In His presence there is fullness of joy! (Psalm 16) Clean hands and a pure heart! This is God’s will for your life.
Jude 24, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen”.
Stop living in time and live for eternity!