WHY REPENTANCE IS AN IMPERATIVE IN SALVATION Psalm 51:1-5

Written by Ralph Norwood

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WHY REPENTANCE

IS AN

IMPERATIVE

IN SALVATION

PSALM 51:1-5 "Have mercy on me O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions, Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me, Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

INTRODUCTION: What I would like to do in this introduction....is to make a series of statements and principles to set the pace for this study.

1. The classic statement in the Old Testament on the question of REPENTANCE is Psalm 51. I would venture that it most likely is the classic statement on repentance in the whole Bible.

2. The question I am bringing up in this study and will develop is this: Can we receive salvation from God unless we know what it is to repent? Is it possible for a person to be a Christian without true repentance? Let me make a starting premise. THERE HAS TO BE THE ELEMENT OF REPENTANCE BEFORE THERE CAN BE SALVATION. You can read the life of any convert in the Bible and you will always find the element of repentance. Thus, I want to state in the beginning that “without repentance there is no salvation.”

3. Psalm 51 is really the psalm of a backslider, the psalm of a man who knew he had committed terrible sins and crimes. What David shows us in this Psalm about SIN IS ALWAYS TRUE....WHETHER IT IS THE SIN OF A LOST PERSON OR A BACKSLIDER. SIN ALWAYS BEARS THE SAME TERRIBLE CHARACTERISTICS.

4. There is always a COMMON PATTERN in the matter of salvation. . Certain ingredients are always present in the Christian experience. Whether it is in the Old Testament or New ....there is a common pattern. Certain things are always present.

a. Why the common pattern? Because in all cases it is the work of the Holy Spirit. No man can even become a believer without the work of the Holy Spirit in his soul...AND THE HOLY SPIRIT TENDS TO DO THE SAME THING IN ALL CASES....HE LEAVES CERTAIN MARKS.

b. WARNING: We still need to be careful lest we STANDARDIZE THE CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE in the wrong way and INSIST UPON CERTAIN PARTICULAR DETAILS IN EVERY CASE. There are always those who will try to STANDARDIZE the Christian experience.

c. Let me Illustrate: In John Bunyons book, GRACE ABOUNDING....John Bunyan tells us that he passed through an agony of repentance that lasted for 18 long months....and during those l8 months, he lived a life that was nothing but sheer agony. There were times when he felt so miserable and unhappy. On one occasion upon seeing some geese in a field, he wished he were something like those geese so that he need not experience the agony of repentance. Another day he saw himself as it were swayed over the open jaws of hell and he could smell the brimstone in the air. The result was that there were those who read this story and then wondered if they were saved because they had not had the same experience as John Bunyan and they said, “I have never felt or seen myself suspended over the open jaws of Hell; I have never smelled the brimstone in the air.” One man said that he was not saved because he had never had a Damascus Road experience like Paul. What these did was to try to STANDARIZE THE COMMON EXPERIENCE.

5. Before we look at these steps of repentance in David, We must beware that we do not insist upon the various steps and stages happening in your life in a CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.

a. Be satisfied with all conversions that there are COMMON ELEMENTS....COMMON PATTERNS, but in some cases, one thing comes first and then the other elements follows and in other cases the second thing comes first and the first follows. All I am saying is that IN THE ABSENCE OF CERTAIN ELEMENTS....WE HAVE NEVER REPENTED AND WITHOUT REPENTANCE WE ARE NOT CHRISTIANS.

6. There are also those who AVOID THE WHOLE QUESTION OF REPENTANCE. They say that since they have never committed adultery, never committed murder like David....thus DO NOT EXPECT ME TO EXPERIENCE THE SAME THINGS THAT DAVID EXPERIENCED. [since I have never committed certain sins...then how can I feel the same as those who have]?

a. Let Me State: REPENTANCE IS IN NO SENSE DEPENDENT UPON THE TYPE OR THE KIND OF SIN WHICH YOU HAVE OR HAVE NOT COMMITTED.

b. Let me illustrate this: Charles Wesley never committed adultery or murder, never guilty in any way shape or form of the things which David did. Charles Wesley was a good man, the son of a clergyman, he was a very devout clergyman himself. He had an exceptional Mother who was also a very Godly woman. He was brought up in the rectory and when he went to Oxford with his brother John, they formed what was called THE HOLY CLUB.... inorder that they and other students might live good lives. They preached in prisons, they gave their money to the poor. He always lived a good life and did that which was godly and devout...yet note what he says of himself in one of the hymns he wrote. “Just and Holy is thy name, I am all unrighteousness, vile and full of sin I am.”

c. Illustration: Take the great hymn of Augustus Toplady.... another man who had never been guilty of the things which David did....but remember what he said about himself...”foul, I to the fountain fly....Wash me, Savior or I die.” LESSON: THE FEELING OF REPENTANCE IS NOT DEPENDENT UPON THE PARTICULAR NATURE OF THE SIN COMMITTED.

7. If after studying with us, you do not find in your own soul these common, certain elements, then YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO USE THE NAME OF CHRISTIAN. Here are some of the steps....and may you evaluate your life in the light of these steps.

First Step: THE PERSON COMES TO A KNOWLEDGE OF AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE FACT THAT HE HAS SINNED. “for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.” [Psa. 51:3]

1. Comments:

a. The first thing that happens to a person when they become convinced and convicted of sin is that they FACE THEIR SIN and really begin to look at what they have done in an honest manner. [ There is no mincing of words with David. He does not use slick or vague language but talks about his problem as one of “transgressions” and “sins” not one of inadequacy or genetic and environmental problems].

b. The problem of NOT FACING OUR SINS: When you think of how great a man David was spiritually...then it really is incredible that a man of David’s character could do what he did....and then not face what he did. He went a year plus without facing these terrible sins.

1. lesson: The first Step in salvation is CONVICTION OF SIN...and the first way to become convicted of your sin is to STOP AND LOOK AT YOURSELF. The world will do all in its power to keep you from stopping and looking at yourself.

2. lesson: THE WHOLE CASE OF THE BIBLE IS THAT A MAN CANNOT BECOME A CHRISTIAN UNTIL HE STOPS and THINKS.

Second Step: RECOGNITION OF THE EXACT CHARACTER OR NATURE OF WHAT WE HAVE DONE.

1. David spells out the Exact Nature with three words.

a. transgression

b. Iniquity

c. Sin.

2.Let us note each word Briefly:

a. TRANSGRESSION: this word means rebellion. It means the uprising of the will against authority...especially against THE PERSON OF AUTHORITY. David prays, “blot out my transgressions.” It also means: a desire to have OUR OWN WAY....desire to DO WHAT WE WANT TO DO....WHAT WE LIKE. It involves a deliberate choice.

2. It involves a deliberate choice....involves an act of active defiance.

3. It means that we do something that our own conscience tells us to be wrong... a willful, deliberate act of disobedience.

b. INIQUITY: This means an act is twisted or that it is bent. It really means PERVERSION. “wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.” David wants that TWIST, the PERVERSION removed and washed.

1. Great thing about repentance is that you begin to see many of the things we have done are twisted and perverted. OUR ACTIONS ARE BENT. When we have a desire that evil might come to another person....HOW HORRIBLE THE TWIST.

c. Sin: means missing the mark. The idea is that of a man aiming and shooting but missing the mark. Failure to arrive.

Third Step: MAN REALIZING AND CONFESSING THAT ALL THIS IS DONE AGAINST GOD AND BEFORE GOD.

1. “against you, you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight.”

2. comments:

a. David does not mention Bathsheba or Uriah, her husband or the men who were killed in the battle. He says “AGAINST YOU AGAINST YOU ONLY.” David is moving yet another step closer when he recognizes, “against you, against you only.”

b. He sees that the real essence is that He has sinned against God.

1. note: This is the essential difference in REMORSE and REPENTANCE. A man who suffers remorse is one who realizes he has done wrong....but it stops. When you realize you have “sinned against God” then you are in the land of repentance.

2. David is seeing that sin is a violation of WHAT GOD HAS MADE AND OF WHAT GOD INTENDED MAN TO BE. “I have violated what God intended man to be.” “I am twisting and perverting God’s creation.”

Fourth Step: MAN FINDS THAT HE HAS ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE OR PLEA.

1. “against you, against you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge'"

2. Comments:

1. What David is telling God....”I have not one single excuse.” “I have no plea.” “There is nothing to be said for me.” Everything I did was the result of utter willfulness.

2. Please note: As long as you are in the position of TRYING to justify yourself, you have NOT REPENTED. If there is any self justification, any self righteousness, then you have not repented. The TEST OF REPENTANCE is that a man having looked at himself and at his own heart and life....says to himself, “I deserve nothing but Hell and if God sends me there, I haven’t a single complaint to make.”

FIFTH STEP: He Realizes and Recognizes that His very Nature is Essentially Evil.

1. "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my Mother conceived me."

2 Let’s Stop and Review:.

1. He stops and faces the Facts....he looks at himself.

2. He recognizes the actions of which he has been guilty and admits they are wrong in three respects.

3. Then he says, “I have also sinned against God.

4. Then he says, “I am without a single plea or excuse.”

3. Here is the Kicker: He then asks himself....”what is there about me that makes me capable of all these things, jealously, envy, hatred, malice, desire, lust, passion, perversion?” He then comes to see and to declare that HIS VERY NATURE MUST BE CORRUPT, MY VERY HEART MUST BE EVIL.. He admits that it “is not the world outside him” but it is something IN ME THAT IS ROTTEN.

4. This last step is a man rising from the REALIZATION OF HIS SINS to a REALIZATION OF SIN and that his very being is evil. This is Rom. 7:18,24.... The terrible thing to David now is that he was ALWAYS CAPABLE of adultery and murder and lying and deceit. THIS REALLY IS THE ESSENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN POSITION.

5. THE REAL BELIEVER BECOMES troubled and concerned more about “THE THING WITHIN HIM”...which renders him capable of such actions. [David is more concerned about the THING WITHIN than the act itself].

1. Most Christians are merely concerned about FORGIVENESS.

2. Most give little though that there is something IN THEM that produces such acts of sin. This is why David cried, “create in me a clean heart o Lord.” [David knew that his real problem was that the HEART WAS BAD]. I need more than forgiveness. I need to be made A NEW. [I understand why it has to be described as being “born again.”]

3. When Wesley was converted.,..he went back to his university of Oxford and preached on regeneration...AND THERE WAS HATED FOR SUCH A SERMON...AND THEY MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM TO PREACH THERE AGAIN.

6. PLEASE NOTE: Man is prepared to admit that he is not one hundred percent a saint...but if you tell him he is ABSOLUTELY ROTTEN, then watch the fireworks.

1. The conversation of Nicodemas. He really asked the question, “WHAT HAVE I TO DO IN ORDER TO BECOME LIKE YOU?” Our Lord answered him by saying that it is not a question of ADDING TO WHAT YOU HAVE.....you must be born again...YOU DO NOT NEED ADDITION BUT REGENERATION.

7. David understood something when he wrote, “I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me.” A MAN WHO HAS REALIZED THIS ABOUT HIMSELF DOES NOT OBJECT TO A GOSPEL WHICH TELLS HIM HE MUST BE BORN AGAIN. The man who thinks that basically he is fairly good...ALWAYS OPPOSES THE NEW BIRTH. The New Birth is Humiliating. The Gospel deals a mortal blow to our pride.

SIXTH STEP: NO MAN HAS EVER REPENTED WITHOUT AN ELEMENT OF CONCERN AND FEELING WITH REGARD TO HIS STATE AND CONDITION.

1. David prays, “have mercy upon me, O God”

2. Comments:

1. The man who wrote this was feeling DESPERATE....he felt real concern about his state and condition....[even with all of his wealth, with all of his power and position...these could not satisfy him]. Question: Have you ever been concerned about yourself and the state of your soul? Has there ever been a restlessness, anxiety about your soul?

a. Sometimes people who have been brought up in a religious manner...HAVE NEVER HAD THIS CONCERN.

b. Question: Have you ever seen yourself as a sinner in the sight of God? Have you ever seen yourself as a vile sinner? Wesley in one of his hymns wrote, “I am all unrighteousness and vile and full of sin I am.” [the interesting thing is that Wesley knew as little about sins of the flesh as anyone could know.] When you realize that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.” I want to say that there has never been a saint on the face of the earth who has not seen himself as a vile sinner.

SEVENTH STEP: THE NEXT MARK OF EVERY TRULY REPENTANT SOUL IS AN AWARENESS, A CONSCIOUSNESS OF UTTER HELPLESSNESS.

1. comments.

a. David does not know what to do with himself....His conscience is accusing him...and whatever he did, he could not silence it....there was sin before his eyes day and night. Look at how his unconfessed sin affects his body.

Read Psalm 38 where David says " there is no health in his body, his back is filled with searing pain, his bones have no soundness because of his sin. He is feeble and utterly crushed." Unconfessed sin can produce psychosomatic illnesses.

EIGHTH STEP: THE MOST AMAZING THING ABOUT A MAN WHO REPENTS IS HIS NEW ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD.

1. This is possibly the most subtle test of all....our attitude toward God. The one against whom David has sinned is God...and YET THE ONE HE DESIRES ABOVE ALL IS GOD. [this is the difference in REMORSE and REPENTANCE.]

a. the man who has NOT repented, but who is only experiencing remorse...when he realizes he has done something against God....WILL AVOID GOD [Adam and Eve in Garden is an example]

b. The man who has repented, who has been convicted by the Holy Spirit....even though he knows he has sinned against God...IT IS GOD HE WANTS. “be merciful unto me O. God.”THIS IS THE PARADOX OF REPENTING....WANTING THE VERY ONE YOU HAVE OFFENDED.

NINTH STEP: THE REPENTANT SINNER....NOT ONLY KNOWS GOD HAS THE POWER TO REMOVE THE STAINS AND GUILT OF SIN...HE ALSO KNOWS THAT GOD IS ‘READY AND WILLING TO DO IT.’

1. “have mercy upon me according to thy loving kindness.” [then he adds] “according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgression.”

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES

OF REPENTANCE, FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

1. FIRST, THERE IS THE POSSESSION OF JOY AND OF GLADNESS:

1. note v. 8...”to hear joy and gladness.”

2. note v. 12....”restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.”

a. the man who has gone through this experience of conversion is a man who knows this joy and gladness. This joy is of a particular nature. David is not talking about natural cheerfulness and joyfulness...he is not talking about something temperamental.

b. The joy of David is the “joy of salvation.” This is a special joy...THIS IS A JOY WHICH IS INDEPENDENT OF ALL NATURAL CONDITIONS..... It is the same as I Peter 1:8....”you rejoice unspeakable and full of glory.”

3. Two things which make us lose our joy.

a. UNCONFESSED SIN IN THE BELIEVER [like David]

b. SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME LOOKING AT OURSELVES. [the very best saint when he looks at himself becomes unhappy....remember: SELF EXAMINATION is Biblical but INTROSPECTION IS BAD.

2. SECOND, PROFOUND DISTRUST OF SELF AND A REALIZATION OF THE POWER OF GOD.

1. “create in me a clean heart....renew a right spirit with in me.”

a. The R. V. reads, “renew a STEADFAST spirit with in me.” David now becomes conscious of his own unsteadiness....DAVID WANTS A RELIABLE SPIRIT WITH IN HIM. He does not want to go back and forth spiritually.

3, Third, HE NOW DESIRES TO LIVE FOR THE GLORY OF GOD AND HE IS ANXIOUS THAT ALL OTHERS SHOULD DO THE SAME.

1. 13-15.

2. Lesson: It is somewhat strange how few people who say that they have experienced the NEW BIRTH and yet have no built in desire to LIVE FOR HIS GLORY.

a. If you can honestly say that you believe that God sent His only begotten Son that He might die the horrible death and bear in His body your sins....that God would love you so much He would do such a thing....IF I SAY ALL OF THIS AND DO NOT WANT TO LIVE TO THE HONOR AND GLORY OF GOD....I WOULD SAY THAT YOU MOST LIKELY ARE THE MOST UNGRATEFUL WRETCH IN THE WORLD.

b. Quite Frankly: THERE SHOULD NOT BE ANY NEED TO HAVE TO PROMPT MEN TO BE HOLY. I would think that we would want to live holy if we have any sense of honor....Note what David said, “THEN will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”

c. Listen: As soon as David got right, he began to THINK OF OTHERS and their need for God. [WHY? when you get right, then you will have HIS EYE]. The “then” is inevitable when you get right with Him.

OUR CONTENTION

IS AS

FOLLOWS

That there are certain things that are ALWAYS present in every case of conversion and of salvation.

If you do not find these COMMON, certain elements, then you are

NOT ENTITLED TO USE THE NAME OF CHRISTIAN.

THOSE ELEMENTS

ARE

FACE YOURSELF...LOOK AT YOURSELF....NO MAN HAS EVER BECOME A CHRISTIAN WITHOUT

LOOKING AT HIMSELF. [THE WORLD WILL DO ALL IN ITS POWER TO

KEEP YOU FROM LOOKING AT YOURSELF]

***