Sin is the most expensive thing in the universe, costing far more than any earthly possession or pleasure. David's sin with Bathsheba, detailed in Psalm 51, illustrates the profound rebellion, crookedness, and missing the mark inherent in sin, which defiles the conscience and brings spiritual disease. The sermon emphasizes that sin's true essence is the assertion of one's own will and right to oneself over God's will, leading to a debtor's status before God. Ultimately, the only remedy for sin's high cost is the cleansing power of Jesus Christ's blood, which can create a new heart and restore fellowship with God.
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I invite you this morning to turn with me to Psalm fifty-one, the fifty-first Psalm. And we shall read the first fourteen verses of Psalm fifty-one. And you'll notice that in the Psalms, the introduction to the Psalms are inspired. And this as an introduction, it is to the chief musician, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the Prophet came unto him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, brought out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. 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 judgeest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward part, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with thist, and I shall be clean. Wash me. and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing allah to thy righteousness.
And may the Lord bless the reading of his words. Let's pray together. Our Father, as we bow in our holy presence, and as somehow we can look into the occurrence in David's life of grievous sin, presumptuous sin, we ask the O God to oppress, give us a glimpse of the high cost of sin and the blessedness of the salvation that's in Christ Jesus Christ. Speak to us in Nile, and may we hear thy voice with readiness for Jesus' sake.
Amen. One Tuesday morning in nineteen eighty, as I was driving to my Tuesday morning Bible class, I had the radio tuned in to back to the Bible broadcast, and Dr. Warren Gursby asked a question. And the question he asked was this, what is the most priceless thing in the universe? And he caught my attention immediately. And he answered that question, it is your own soul. For in Mark's Gospel, chapter eight and verse thirty-six, we read, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and he lose his own soul?
And we can behold how priceless the soul of everyone is when we look at what it cost the Lord Jesus to redeem it. It took nothing less than his death and his precious blood to redeem my soul and to make it his. Now, if the human soul is the most priceless thing in the world, what is the most expensive? The most expensive thing in the world is sin. Sin. We think of certain pieces of property as being expensive.
We think of the value of certain gems that are sold in the world market. And we think of the price that certain people pay for pictures or paintings that the great artists have given us. These are not nearly as expensive as sin. Sin is the most expensive thing in the world. Now this passage that is before us, there are at least four great passages in the Word of God that bear light on Psalm fifty one. There is first of all second Samuel chapter eleven and then second Samuel chapter twelve.
Psalm thirty-two. Psalm six. And we could add to that Psalm forty-three. And also Psalm fifty-one. You see, King David had come home from the battlefield, and he put off his armor. And he was taking it easy. And his eyes wandered. And as his eyes wandered, he saw his neighbor's wife. He coveted his neighbor's wife, then he took her, then he committed adultery, and she sent word after a time that she's pregnant with his child.
Now David faces a real problem, a problem that he had created himself. Now he tries to get rid of the problem. So he sends to the battlefield for the woman's husband, Uriah the Hittites. And he has him from home on furlough. And he thinks Uriah will certainly go home to his wife, and he won't know the difference. But Uriah didn't go home. Uriah said, The servants of my Lord sleep on the ground, and I'll sleep just like they are no better than they are. So David said, Unless his ingenuity worked some more, and he thought, I'll make him drunk.
And that's what he did. He gave him wine to drink, and he made him drunken, and he thought he'll certainly go home now. But he didn't. He laid right on the ground, like the other soldiers would, outside the palace of David. And this irritated David all the more. So he wrote a letter to Joab, the general of the army. And in the letter he put the word. And he sent the letter through Uriah to Joab. Put this man into the forefront of the hottest battle.
They withdraw from him that he died. David did a number of things. They were all sins. But there's a time coming, and there's a time being in David's life, when God brought up David short, and he has to deal with his sin. And he has to deal with it honestly. And God will see to it that he does. You see, he got away with his deception for about a year. After Uriah the Hittite died in battle, David took Bathsheba as his wife.
Everything seems not to be cleared up, doesn't it? Well, everything's all over. Uriah's dead. As David said, the sword killeth one as well as another. You talk about cold-blooded activity for a child of God. But the scripture says the thing that David did displeased the Lord. He got away with this deception for about a year. But God sent Nathan the prophet to prosper. Oh, we can get away with sin for a time.
And today I want to talk to you about the high cost of sin. Next week I want to talk to you about repentance. I want you to consider this with me. You see, we have people today who have the idea that because we're saved by grace we can live any way we want. And it doesn't matter to God. So let me tell you it does matter to God and sin is just as expensive as it ever was. God does not condone sin in the sinner, in the saint, and condemn it in the sinner.
It's the same both ways. And Paul in Romans chapter six deals with people who take the attitude, let us continue in sin so grace may abound. But the only answer for that is God forbid. How can we who have died this sin live any longer therein? There are two powerful motives, friends, that lead us to holy living. And the first of these is a loving reverence and fear of God. That's a powerful motive. The second one is a holy hatred of sin.
We read in the Psalms, ye of the Lord hate evil. Now let us look at what David did. He lusted and he committed adultery. He made a man drunken. And then he murdered that man. All these are acts. They are acts. But these acts that David did, they point to something far deeper. You see, the essence of sin is not murder. The essence of sin is not adulterer. The essence of sin is not coveting.
The essence of sin is my will to my right to myself. I can do what I please with my own life. That is the essence of sin. And it is that which let David do what he did. the essence of sin, my will to my right to myself. Nine verses one and two of Psalm fifty one, David uses three words that describes us. Notice these two verses. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies.
Blood out my transgressions. wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin in verse one he uses the word transgression in verse two he uses the word iniquity and in the end of verse two he uses the word sin each of these words have a different meaning they are not synonyms while each of them describes sin Each of them have a different meaning. And he says, Blot out my transgression. The word transgression means rebellion.
You see, David was a rebel. He rebelled. He defied God's law, which he knew. He knew the law of God. For David in the Nineteenth Psalm, he said, Oh, He said, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. In the hundred-nineteenth Psalm, which I think he wrote, he said, Oh, how about thy law! It is my meditation night and day. In this passage, I learned that David is a rebel. He knew the law of God. What does the law of God say? The Tenth Commandment. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
The Seventh Commandment. thou shalt not commit adultery. The sixth commandment, thou shalt do no murder. But he broke all three. He broke all three. You see, when we rebel against God, His holy law, what are we doing? We are rebelling against His will. And we are asserting our will over God's will. And when I assert my will over God's will, It manifests what sin really is. And it shows the rebellion that is in the heart. For my will to my right to myself.
And this is what David did. But he not only uses the word transgression. In verse two he uses the word iniquity. He says wash me thoroughly. For mine iniquity. Iniquity refers to. to the crookedness of sin. There is something deviant and crooked about sin. David committed the act of adultery. And after he did that, he became exceedingly deviant and crooked in his acts. And he has to acknowledge it in the presence of a holy God.
Now, I worked at the building trades. And if I would send the man to get me a straight edge, I had a picture in my mind of exactly what he was going to bring. He was going to bring something that was straight, not something that was crooked. But if I were to tell a man to bring something that's crooked, I couldn't have any idea what he'd bring. I don't know if he'd bring something that was shaped like a horseshoe or if it were twisted like a pretzel. I couldn't tell the difference. It's crooked. You see, and when you talk about something that's crooked, you can be crooked in so many different ways. You see, when you really look at these verses in Psalm fifty one, something happened to David's relationship with God.
He became a rebel. Then something happened to David's character. He became crooked. That which was previously straight in his eyes. Now becomes crooked. Walter Strutt wrote the words, Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. When he uses the third word, in the end of verse two, he speaks of sin. He says, Cleanse me from my sin. Sin means to miss the mark.
When we aim at something and we set a goal. You see, David didn't meet God's standard. All of us have standards of one kind or another. Some people lower their standard to cover their sin. Oh, how foolish it is to do it. Now, God had set a goal for David, and he missed it. See, David's will was wrong. He became a rebel. David's character was affected. He became crooked.
David missed his goals because he missed the mark. He sinned. David uses these three words to describe his activities. For which he is not in repentance before God. But then he not only uses three words to describe his activity, the word transgression, the word iniquity, and the word sin. But he uses three expressions that deal with each of them. Concerning transgressions, he says, blot out my transgression. You see, rebellions.
transgression, and the expression blot out that is used in relationship to it. It refers to the blotting out of a death. As we read in Colossians two, fifteen, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that were against us. It means to take the slate and to wipe it clean, blotting out of death. You see, when David sinned, friends, he became a debtor. He broke God's law, and now he owes. a debt to God. You see, as a child of God, we are very wealthy. For the word of God says concerning our salvation, the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And when I were saved, I became exceedingly wealthy. And so did David. But when a believer sins, he can enjoy the riches of God's grace. And he becomes a debtor. And that's where David is now. He's a debtor. He can't enjoy the riches of God's grace. He's a debtor and he cries out, Blot out, wipe the slate clean of my rebellion. My transgression. Blot out my transgression. But then he uses a second term. He says, wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity.
You see, when we think of washing, we think of getting rid of defilement. Sin not only does something, you see, in relation to the will, sin defiles the conscience, and it makes it dirty. Wash me thoroughly from my sin. We become dirty through sin, and oh, the defilement is there. Did you ever meet a person who made this confession? Sin has made me a better person. Do you know of anybody that became a better person through sin? It's abhorrent to even think it.
David's conscience was defiled, and he cried out, Wash me. But he not only said, Wash me, he said, Wash me thoroughly. Why did he want to throw a wash in? Because in verse six he says, God desirous truth on the inward part. Outside I have been living alive and I was able to deceive an old larger mushing on the inside and you desire truth. Where? On the inward part. Wash me thoroughly. You see my trouble is on the inside. My trouble all began on the inside where nobody could see.
But you see it. I owe you an awful debt. I need to be washed thoroughly from my sins. When he uses a third expression, he says, cleanse me from my sins. Ah, cleanse me. Now, this is a word that has reference not to primarily to his defilements, nor to his, but it has reference to his disease. You see, it was lepers who were cleansed in Scripture. The sin, friends, is a disease.
And the disease of leprosy in Scripture is that which is a picture of sin in the sinner and how sin works. If you study Leviticus chapters thirteen and fourteen, in the occasion of leprosy and in the cleansing of the leper, you see, in the occasion of leprosy, it began with just a little more, just a little rising in the skin. And eventually, it involved the whole body. And the man who was a leper had a cry of, unclean, unclean, don't come near me. You see, the disease of leprosy is awful.
And in the cleansing of the leper, there in Leviticus chapter fourteen, Hyssop is involved. And you see, in verse seven, he cries, I purge me with Hyssop, and I shall be queen. I'm diseased, Lord. I have that awful disease called sin. I want a thorough cleanse you. I'm just like the leper. Purge me with Hyssop. Wash me, and I shall be wider than snow. Purge me. In Psalm six, and we don't have time to turn to it, it's very apparent that David was afflicted inwardly and outwardly with disease.
Psalm forty-three becomes apparent that God dealt with him in this? For in Psalm forty-three, you have the activity of a Hepephel. And what he secretly said of David when he came to see him, an evil disease of taken hold of him, is what he said. When will he die? And his name perished from the earth. And a Hephephel, he longed to see it, secretly. He was worse than David. He hid his sin. David confessed his. Hephephel did. And Hippophael went on and hanged himself, like Judas. And then behind Psalm forty-three, you have the activity of Judas's carrying.
For in Psalm forty-three we read that verse that our Lord uses in relation to Judas. Yea, my non-familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ye to my bread hath lifted up his heel against me. Psalm forty-three, the sixth Psalm, the thirty-second Psalm, David cries out, Day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, my moisture turned to the drought of summer. You see, before David sinned, he was a friend of God, but now he's a rebel. Before David sinned, he was straight in his life before God, but now he's crooked.
Before David sinned, he was meeting his goals, but now he's missing them. Before David sinned, he was rich in spiritual blessings, but now he's a denner. Before David sinned, he was clean, but now he's defiled and searching. Before David sinned, he was spiritually healthy, but now David is spiritually healthy. disease. It's a high cost of sin, friend. It's the most expensive thing there is. And your soul is the most valuable thing there is.
And it is your sin which will take you to hell. And it's only the blood of Jesus Christ that can cleanse you from that sin. In conclusion, I'd just like to say a few things. Number one, when I read Psalm fifty-one, these are not cheap words on the list of David's friends. His heart is beating at the gates of heaven. He means business. He's not just saying to Lord, Lord, in case I've done something wrong. Oh no. He says, Lord, I'm a rebel.
Lord, I'm dirted. Lord, I'm diseased. I'm a leper. His heart is beating, friends, at the gate of heaven. And second, David realizes that God isn't interested in a little patch-up work on the outside. So he cries out, Lord, you desire truth on the inward part. Only you can give me a new heart. Only you can bring regeneration to pass. Only you can create in me a clean heart. And that's what he cries out for. Create in me a clean heart, oh God. And God through the prophet Jeremiah says in Jeremiah thirty-six, I will give you a new heart.
I've heard people use the expression, give your heart to Jesus. Well, what would he want for the dirty thing? What you need is a new one. and only he can give it to you are we satisfied that halfway measures or do we want the real thing create only God can create you see going forward in a meeting will not meet the will not do it friend it won't suffice David realized that God has to do something supernatural And that's what regeneration is all about.
That inward cleansing. So that brings me to the final thing. Friend, has this ever happened to you? When did God give you a new heart? I'm not asking you when you were baptized. I'm not asking you when you went forward in the meeting. I'm asking you, when did God give you a new heart? That changed your life. Nothing else will do.
Oh, I thank God this morning. While sin is exceedingly expensive, there's something exceedingly precious that meets the need. I read in I John one verse seven, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. I read in Colossians chapter one verse twenty, having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all faith through himself. All reconciliation is available in the blood of God's Son.
of all Jesus Christ. All come to Christ. He's the only one who can deal with your sin. Now let's pray together and then we're going to sing. Oh God our Father, as we realize what transgression, iniquity and sin really are, We stand amazed at your grace. Be a love for us that you can take a guilty sinner, restore him to fellowship with yourself. You can take a saint who is diseased and defiled and restore that person to the joy of his salvation.
Keep us from sinning, O God. that we may enjoy daily the riches of your grace for Jesus' sake. Amen. I think we should sing the first and the last stanzas of hymn number two hundred fifty-six. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And then the last stanza. This is all my hope and peace. You see, there's no peace, my friend, apart from this. You either have it or you don't.
You either have a clean heart or you don't have a clean heart. And only the Lord Jesus can give it to you. I'm going to remain right here at the front this morning. If God has spoken to your heart, if I can be of hell, come and see. Let's stand to sing the first verse. Let's stand and watch the way my way.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. God can make me go again. Thou think of the blood of Jesus. O precious angel of hope, and take me by the soul of hope. To others that I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the hope. That makes me worthless, oh, no other father known, nothing but the blood of his heart. My father, do you come here that you are just and holy and righteous? And we thank you again for the blood of Jesus Christ, who abides with a big sin, because you laid our sins on him, and before the name of the Holy Spirit.
We've missed the mark. We're the rebels on the inside, and we're defiled, but always thank you. So we've been calm with the Christ, who's through the new heart, and know the reality of the forlessness of forgiveness of shame. Now we ask you to go very slowly, slowly, step in my life. Give us a holy, reverent, fear of ourselves. And give us a holy, secret of sin. For not all that are truly believed in me, May thy grace, thy mercy, and thy peace abide, and send us forth with a new sense of the greatness of God's forgiveness, the value of our souls, and be the high cause.
Thank you. So ready here, who have not been saved? Sleep as well into yourself. And we'll give you a chance to meet with me. Amen.