Please turn in your copy of God's Word to Psalm 51. Psalm 51. We continue with our series, Familiar Psalms, sung anew. Psalm 51 is perhaps the most well-known psalm of confession. And as such, it gives us a lesson in confession. It provides us with some foundational principles as we consider what it means to confess our sins to God. Now, as I was preparing the sermon, I soon realized there was enough material for two sermons. And so we're going to be in Psalm 51 this week and also next Lord's Day. As we come to the reading and the preaching of God's word, let me pray for us. Father, as we come to your word now, please shine its light into our dark hearts that it might expose our sin and so lead us to our savior, the great friend of sinners. And we ask this in his name, the one who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever praised. Amen. Psalm 51. To the choir master, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. 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. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth, in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God. O God of my salvation. And my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then will you delight in right sacrifices and in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bulls will be offered on your altar. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever. Take a look again with me, if you would, at the superscription. of this psalm, it's the bit at the top of the psalm. Many people think that the superscriptions in the psalms were put there by the Bible translators, in this case, the ESV Translation Committee, but they are actually part of the original inspired text of the psalm. In the book of Psalms, there are 116 superscriptions. Some superscriptions are just a word or a phrase relating to the authorship, a psalm of David. Others are a bit longer and contain musical composition and tunes, a mass scale of David to the Gittith. Some contain directions for the use of the psalm, for the festival offering, and others contain the occasion for the psalm, like here in Psalm 51, to the choir master, a psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Now, believe it or not, but this morning's sermon is a sermon on the superscription. That's right, a sermon on a superscription. I nearly thought of making that the title of the sermon, but I thought if you saw that on the notice board outside, you wouldn't have come to church this morning. So it's not the title, but it is still a sermon on the superscription, which I'm sure makes you think, well, That's a bit weird, but at least it'll be over in five minutes. Well, I'm afraid it won't be over in five minutes because I have five points on this superscription. Five points, each of which give us a lesson on confession. Here's the first point. The scandal behind the superscription. The scandal behind the superscription. The last clause contains the scandal. David went in to Bathsheba. The English is a literal translation of the Hebrew, which is a rather matter-of-fact way of speaking about David's sin. It's a Hebrew euphemism for consensual intercourse. This is the scandal behind the superscription. David had consensual intercourse with a woman who was not his wife, a woman called Bathsheba, who was the wife of Uriah the Hittite. That, in short, is the sin that caused the scandal behind the superscription. But it wasn't the only sin that caused the scandal. Augustine, the early church theologian once said, sins are like grapes, they come in bunches. Sins are like grapes, they come in bunches. And David's one sin of adultery came with a whole bunch of other sins. The story is told for us in 2 Samuel chapter 11. It begins with the sin of David's laziness. In the spring at the time when kings go out to war, David sent Joab, his servants, and all Israel to do battle with the Ammonites. In other words, David wasn't where he was supposed to be, which is where most sins begin, when a person is not where they are supposed to be. David's laziness then led to him loitering on his roof where he spotted beautiful Bathsheba bathing down below on her roof. Instead of looking away, he took a second look and then he inquired about her. And then he sent for her and took her and lay with her. A few weeks later, Bathsheba reported to David that she was pregnant, and so he conspired to cover it up by bringing her husband Uriah back from the battlefield, hoping he would spend a romantic night with his wife and make the problem go away. But it turned out that Uriah the Hittite had more integrity than David the Israelite. Uriah refused to go visit his wife while his fellow soldiers were fighting. When David saw that Uriah wouldn't play ball, he resorted to getting him drunk so that he might go home to spend a night with Bathsheba, but that didn't work. So David sent Uriah back to the battlefield with a note to his commander, Joab. David told Joab to place Uriah in the fiercest part of the battle and then pull back. If Uriah wasn't going to cover David's back in the bedroom, then David wasn't going to cover his back on the battlefield. David's plan worked and Uriah was killed. As you can see, it was one hot mess, involving a whole bunch of sins, from laziness and lusting, to adultery and deceitful scheming, to drunkenness and murder. In fact, multiple murders, because we read that not only did Uriah die, but also other people died alongside him. because Joab pulled back. What a sad, sordid, sin-infested affair with a capital A. What a scandal. You could just see the headlines in the Israeli papers when the story eventually broke. From balcony to battlefield, sex, lies, and murder. I mean, whatever angle you tell it from, this was a scandal. Perhaps the biggest scandal in the history of Israel because of who committed it. All sin is scandalous, but sins are made more scandalous by the grace and gifts and position of the person who commits them. In this case, it was God's chosen king who was supposed to set the example for the nation, for the church of God in the Old Testament. But instead, the man after God's own heart became a man after another man's wife. The man of great psaltery became a man of great adultery. The prince of Israel became a predator in Israel. This is the scandal behind the superscription. And it comes to us with a simple lesson. And that is, whatever the sin, God can handle the scandal. Whatever the sin, God can handle the scandal. Because just think about where we read about the scandal. In the book inspired by God himself, God canonized and memorialized the sin of David in this superscription so that every generation would know what David did and with whom he did it. God inspired the scandal to be inscripturated in the superscription. If you think about it, God could have inspired David to just write a general confession with the superscription, a psalm of David. But he didn't. God inspired for the sin that led to the scandal to be put in the superscription, which shows us that God can handle the scandal. David's job was to confess the sin behind the scandal, not manage the scandal. It's the same with us. When it comes to our sin or the scandal that accompanies it, our job is to confess the sin. Or if we're in a position of pastoral care, to expose the sin. Our job is not to handle the scandal. That's God's job. Our job is to confess the sin behind the scandal. This is the first thing we see in this superscription. The scandal behind the superscription with the lesson that God can handle the scandal. Number two. The sin stated in the superscription. The sin stated in the superscription. A psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Think again about that image from Augustine of our sins being like grapes. They come in bunches. When David committed adultery, there was, as we've seen, a whole bunch of sins attached to it. And David needed to confess every single one of those sins. But which one was put in the superscription? The main one. The one that led to all the other ones. Of course, David was sinning in his heart before he committed adultery, but it was the adultery that led to the other public sins, the lies, the drunkenness, the deceitful schemes, the multiple murders. They were all precipitated by one main sin, the sin of adultery. And that is what is stated in the superscription. Which means that in this confession, David kept the main sin, the main sin. And that's the lesson here. When it comes to confession, when it comes to confessing our sins, we need to keep the main sin, the main sin. There's always a temptation when we're trying to sort out our sins or help other people sort out their sins in pastoral counseling or in a process of discipline. There's always the temptation or danger that we lose sight of the main sin. It's so easy when we sin to spin our sin or substitute the sin with other lesser sins so that the spun sin or the substituted sin becomes the confessed sin. In the mess and misery of sin, and sin is always messy and miserable, In the mess and misery of sin, our hearts like to deflect from the main sin. The devil loves to distract us from the main sin, either through spin or substitution, so that we become focused on something other than the main sin. It's a clever tactic of the devil because he knows that if we don't confess our main sin, God won't forgive our sin. If we confess sins that are spun sins, or substitute sins, or side sins, but we don't confess the main sin, then God won't forgive our sin. I mean, do you think God would have forgiven David if the superscription had stated, I mean, that's spin, isn't it? Do you think God would have forgiven David if the Scripture had stated a Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gotten Uriah drunk? I mean, that's substituting a side sin for the main sin, isn't it? For David to be fully forgiven, He had to confess the main sin. Along with all the other sins, yes, but he had to confess the main sin. Which brings us to a simple lesson. When it comes to confessing our sins, we need to keep the main sin, the main sin. If we spin it or substitute it, God won't forgive it. Some years ago, I served in a church context in another country where there was a minister of a local church known for being a bully and a liar. And as a result of his bullying and lying, there were frequent flare-ups between him and his fellow ministers and staff. When he was held to account and made to render apologies, no one was ever satisfied with his apologies. And over a period of time it became clear why. This minister would so qualify his apology that it was no apology at all. He would spin the sin. Or he would apologize for everything except the sin in question. He would substitute the sin for other sins. He was a master manipulator and deflector of spun sins and substitute sins. It was deeply sad and deeply troubling because it revealed a fleshly devilish attempt to evade or avoid keeping the main sin, the main sin in any of his apologies. It also revealed something else troubling. And that was that this minister was a slave to his sin. Which brings us to the third point. The slavery presumed in the superscription. The slavery presumed in the superscription. We've seen the scandal behind the superscription, the sins stated in the superscription, and now third, the slavery presumed in the superscription. A psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Our first two points focused on the last part of the superscription. This third point relates to the earlier part, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him. This part of the superscription gives us the occasion for why this psalm arose in the first place. The occasion was Nathan going to David. There's actually a word play. between this clause and the last clause. It's in the words went to and gone into. The Hebrew construction is in both cases identical. In other words, Nathan only went to Boel, David, because David went into Boel, Bathsheba. But notice the bit before that. A psalm of David when. A psalm of David when Nathan went to David after David had gone into Bathsheba. In other words, this psalm only arose when Nathan went to David. Take out the when clause, and we would never have heard of Psalm 51. It would never have been written. Which provides us with another lesson from this superscription, and that is, if we were left to ourselves, we would never confess our sins. If we were left to ourselves, we would never confess our sins. Because sin is a deceiver. It's an enslaver. This is the slavery that is presumed in the superscription, the slavery of sin. Sin deceives us and enslaves us so that we don't confess our sins. That was the problem that David had before Nathan went to him. Just think about how sin deceived David. It deceived him into thinking that he could have a one-night stand with a woman whose husband was off at war and no one would ever know. But Bathsheba fell pregnant. Sin deceived him. And then sin deceived David into thinking he could cover up the problem of the pregnancy by bringing Uriah back from the battlefield for a night with Bathsheba. Of course, we know Uriah didn't play ball, but just imagine for a moment he had. Imagine for a moment Uriah had gone home to Bathsheba for a night. Would it actually have covered up his sin? No, because the baby would still have arrived six or seven weeks early and would have weighed what a full term baby weighs. You can just hear the midwives talking about it afterwards. I mean, we've all seen an eight and nine pound baby, but never six or seven weeks early. And then there would have been the problem that little Uriah Jr., as he grew up, would have had an uncanny resemblance to his king. Oh, he's got a beautiful smile. It reminds me of David's smile. This was the great deception of sin in David's sinful scheming. Even if his scheming had worked, We, Uriah Jr., was always gonna look like his king. Do you see how sin deceives? And because it deceives, it enslaves. When we're caught in the web of our deceitful schemes to cover up our sins, we become enslaved to our sins. This is what sin does. It deceives us and then it enslaves us, and to such an extent, that if left to ourselves, we would never repent. We would never repent. Now that's surprising when it comes to David because consider how spiritual he was and how serious his sin was. We're talking about David, God's chosen king, a man after God's own heart, a man who penned some of the most spiritually uplifting words in the Psalter, in which he acknowledges and confesses his own sins. This was the most spiritual man in Israel. And then consider what he did. He broke the sixth commandment, murder. He broke the 7th commandment, adultery. He broke the 8th commandment, stealing. He broke the 9th commandment, lying. He broke the 10th commandment, coveting. Surely with his spirituality and this gravity of his sin, David would have eventually, of his own accord, come to his senses and repented. Surely the weight of such sin and guilt for such a spiritual man would weigh on his conscience and break him into repentance. Lord, I can't take it anymore. I can't sleep at night. I'm guilty, I confess. But no, David spent month after month after month in unrepentance until Nathan went to him. A psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him. This is the slavery of sin that is presumed in the superscription. If left to himself, David would never have confessed his sins. And it's the same with ourselves, because we're no different to David, are we? And sin is no less deceptive or enslaving today. If we were left to ourselves, we would never confess our sins. You couldn't repent of your sin even if you tried. John Flavell, the Puritan, hit the nail on the head when he said, we are more able to stop the sun in its course or make rivers run uphill than by our own skill and power to rule and order our hearts. there's more chance of you stopping the sun in its tracks or making the Schuylkill River run uphill than there is of you ever repenting of your sin. Why? Because sin is a deceiver. It's an enslaver. Boys and girls, young people, have you ever been caught in a sin? And you thought the best way to get out of it was to tell some lies, only to find it got you into more trouble. Those of us who are older, can you remember a time in your past when you did that? I did it once when we were missionary kids in Africa. When I was about four or five years old, one evening, my brother David and I were getting into the bathtub, and David thought it would be a good idea to blow his nose into the bath towel. We'd been out running around in the dusty streets of our African village, and let's just say there was a lot of snot and it was dirty. And I thought it would be a good thing to do what my brother did, so I did the same. And when it came time for our mother to get us out of the bath, she went to grab the towel and she looked at it and she said, who did this? David looked at me, I looked at David, we looked at our mother, and David said, it was Alistair, our younger brother. And I said, it was Alistair. And she said, no, it wasn't. And we said, yes, it was. And she said, no, it wasn't. And we said, yes, it was. And she said, it wasn't him because he's nine months old, and he's fast asleep in his bed. He can't walk, and he's not able to blow his nose into a bath towel. And our mother took us out of that bathtub and began a disciplinary process. I will leave it at that. And do you know what we were shouting at our mother while she was disciplining us? It was Alistair! It was Alistair! I mean even to this day I think it was Alistair. But do you see how sin deceived us and enslaved us so that we were not able to even admit our sin? This is the slavery presumed in the superscription. If left to ourselves, we would never confess our sins. Which brings us to the fourth observation in the superscription, the saving grace contained in the superscription. We've seen the scandal behind the superscription, the sin stated in the superscription, the slavery presumed in the superscription. And now number four, the saving grace contained in the superscription. A psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him. The when clause about Nathan not only shows the slavery of sin, but also the seething grace of God. Had Nathan not gone to David, David would never have repented, but Nathan did go to David and David did repent, which means there was seething grace in Nathan going to David. But why did Nathan go to David? Did he just happen to be on his list that week for a pastoral visit? No, we read in 2 Samuel 12 verse one that the Lord sent Nathan to David. That word sent is significant because in 2 Samuel 11, the previous chapter, there's a lot of sending. It's all sinful sending. In the spring when kings go out to war, David sent Joab and his men and Israel to war, but he remained in Jerusalem. When he saw Bathsheba bathing, he sent and inquired about her. Then he sent for her and lay with her. When Bathsheba fell pregnant, she sent word to David about the pregnancy, which implies that they were in cahoots about how to cover it up David then sent for Uriah. When he wouldn't play ball, he sent a death note back with Uriah to Joab, and Joab then sent a messenger to David to notify him of the outcome. 2 Samuel chapter 12 contains a whole lot of sinful sending shenanigans. And then chapter 12 begins, and the Lord sent Nathan to David. It was a sending full of saving grace. This was a heaven-sent, hell-saving pastoral visit from Nathan. And yes, sin drags people all the way to hell. Sin is never to be taken lightly. flippantly, nonchalantly. Sin is serious. Sin can end you up in hell. And until Nathan went to David, David was on his way to hell. But God, but God sent a prophet to David. That's the saving grace contained in the superscription. God sent a prophet to expose David's sins so that he would confess his sin. That's the simple lesson from this fourth point. God in his grace sends us a prophet to expose our sin so that we confess our sin. Has God ever sent you a prophet? God once sent me a prophet with a small P. It was my father. I was 21 years old, at university, living at home, and one morning my father came into my bedroom and sat by my bed, and with tears in his eyes and a slightly shaky voice, told me what I was really like at home. Selfish, unkind, disrespectful to my mother, arrogant, moody. It was like a dagger to my heart. But it brought me to repentance and confession. Never forgotten it. On my wedding day, I thanked him for it because it was a saving grace in my life. God, in his grace, sent me a prophet with a small p. Has he ever sent you a prophet? Perhaps a spouse, a parent, a pastor, a preacher, a presbytery if you're an elder. Has he ever sent you a prophet? If he has, they are sent as saving grace from a loving heavenly Father. They're all prophets with a small P, but they serve another prophet with a big P, the prophet of all prophets, Jesus Christ, which brings us to our fifth and final point. The Savior prophesied in the superscription. The Savior prophesied in the superscription. Nathan the prophet went to David to expose his sins so he would confess his sin. And like all the Old Testament prophets, Nathan was a type of a prophet to come. The prophet of all prophets who would come and ultimately expose our sin so that we would confess our sin. Just think about how Jesus came onto the scene in his public ministry. He came from Nazareth of Galilee preaching. Jesus came preaching. And do you remember his message in summary? The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news. Repent. Jesus came preaching repentance. He came exposing our sins so that we would confess our sin. Jesus came as a prophet. But why did he come? Because God sent him. Just like God sent all the prophets before him. The Father sent the Son to be the saviour of the world. The Father sent the Son to be the saviour of sinners. And that's good news this morning because we're all sinners with superscriptions full of sin. Everyone here this morning has a superscription of sin. I have one, you have one, this church has one, we all have one. Which means we all need a savior to deal with our superscription of sin. And the wonderful good news is that Jesus is the savior of sinners with superscriptions full of sin. He comes to us as a prophet, exposing our sins so that we will confess our sin. He also comes to us as a priest, paying the debt for our sin and interceding for us when we sin. He also comes to us as a king, subduing the power of sin and helping us to overcome our sin. We might call him the super savior of the superscription of sinners. And as such, he comes to us this morning and says, repent and believe the good news. I am your prophet, priest, and king here to save you from your sins. And when we confess our sins to him, do you know what he does with them? He takes that confession and he turns it into a sweet melody in the ears of his father. Because Jesus is not only the prophet prophesied in this superscription, he's also the choir master. Did you notice how it begins? To the choir master. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is now a minister in the holy places above, conducting the worship of his people. Part of that involves taking our prayers of confession and making them a sweet melody in his father's ears. Maybe you're sitting here this morning and you're thinking, but you don't know what I've done. God could never forgive my sins. Jesus could never take my confession and turn it into a sweet melody. Well, let me end by telling you the story of John Newton, who wrote the famous hymn, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. He also wrote the hymn that we sung earlier in our service. Before John Newton was radically converted and entered the ministry, he was a slave trader. Newton contributed to the enslavement of hundreds, if not thousands of men in his lifetime. That's what lies behind his words, who saved a wretch like me. On his deathbed as he was losing his memory, John Newton said, although my memory is feeding, I remember two things very clearly. I am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior. And that's the final lesson from this superscription. We're all great sinners. But Jesus Christ is a great, great Savior. And if you confess your sins to Him, He will take your confession and He will turn it into a sweet melody in the ears of His Father. Let us pray. Father, as we confess our sins to you, we pray with David of old, have mercy on us, oh God. According to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out our transgressions. Wash us thoroughly from our iniquity and cleanse us from our sin. For we ask it in Jesus' name, our prophet, priest, and king. Amen.