How to Get Back on Solid Ground with God
Psalm 51:1-13
By Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ

Neglected, unconfessed sin transfers feelings of guilt to the inner steel belts of your life. Zeal for God is corrupted with the resultant rust. At first, nothing appears to be wrong. You may even "keep driving" on it, but after awhile things begin to break down. Warmth of love for the Lord cools; interest in God's Word declines; prayer becomes less important. Soon spiritual progress comes to a bumping halt. You have a spiritual "flat tire." Just like the car you once enjoyed driving would become a miserable means of transportation with a flat tire, so your spiritual life becomes miserable. You’re easily bored. The joy of salvation is gone.

Some years ago our country was shocked by a strange airplane accident. A well-known college football coach was flying in a private jet from the Midwest to the East Coast. During the flight it became apparent to the ground controllers that the pilot was not flying according to the filed flight plan. Repeated efforts to communicate with him failed.

Soon it became evident that both pilot and passenger were not conscious. Ground controllers speculated that the cause was an oxygen deficiency in the cockpit. Eventually the aircraft headed out over the ocean, controlled only by its autopilot. When the fuel was finally exhausted the plane plummeted into the Atlantic.

Had you or I been standing on the ground looking up at that small jet flying eastward, we would have never known anything was wrong inside. We might have remarked how high and fast it was flying. We might have even imagined what sort of important person could afford to travel in such an expensive aircraft. It would certainly have been a surprise to see it fall from the sky.

Christian people can experience a similar circumstance in their spiritual lives. Like that jet, they are flying high and fast, every external sign suggesting the same straight and true course they and God have set for themselves. But often unseen by those watching on, they are silently running out of inner fuel. Their zeal for the Lord, their spiritual fervor, their passion for the Lord's cause has drained away. For awhile they last, traveling on autopilot, but ultimately, unless the condition is reversed, they plunge into a sea of spiritual deadness. Men and women, leaders and followers, young and old - people who once had a burning passion for the Lord become unproductive or even dead to the things of God. You may know someone like this - it might even be you - someone who has experienced the joy of the Lord in the past, but now, somehow, the joy has gone. [Gordon McDonald]

I've called this message, How to Get Back on Solid Ground with God. I'm going take you to a passage of Scripture that is a prayer of a well known man who found himself in that very condition. David's prayer of contrition is recorded in Psalm 51. Please turn there with me and we’ll read it together. Though we’re going to read the entire passage, we’ll focus on verses 10-13.

Psalm 51

1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Thy compassion blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.

4 Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, And done what is evil in Thy sight, So that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, And blameless when Thou dost judge.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, Thou dost desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part Thou wilt make me know wisdom.

7 Purify 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, Let the bones which Thou hast broken rejoice.

9 Hide Thy 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 Thy presence, And do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, And sustain me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors Thy ways, And sinners will be converted to Thee.

If you look at the superscript attached to the beginning of this Psalm, you'll notice that it says, "A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba." David was the King of Israel 1000 years before Christ. He was the one the Bible called "a man after God's own heart." He was the one who killed the giant, Goliath. He was one of the greatest men of his time, but he really blew it when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of another man, and then ordered her husband killed to cover it up. The ploy lasted for nearly a year. During that time, David was one of the most miserable people alive. The cover-up drained him of his spiritual vigor. His passion for the Lord that had been his trademark vanished. The "Man After God's Own Heart" became a hypocrite. The once active harp of "The Sweet Psalmist of Israel" lay somewhere in a corner of the palace gathering dust. The joy of serving God was gone. Writing in another Psalm, Psalm 32, he described it this way: "My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer."

In this prayer of Psalm 51, he pleads with God to help him regain his spiritual footing and to put his life back on solid ground. The passage is tailor made for any of us if we were once on fire for God but have slipped away.

The first thing I would point out from these verses that must be done by someone who has lost the thrill of serving God is:

I. Look for the Real Cause.

Behind the loss of David’s joy of salvation hidden, unconfessed, unrepentant sin. He had committed adultery, ordered a man killed to make it look like an accident, then covered up the whole mess. No one else knew about it, or if they did they weren't talking (after all, he was the king!). No one else, that is, but God - which made all the difference in the world.

Listen to David's words in Psalm 32:3-5.

"When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to Thee, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord"; And Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin."

One of the most common reasons people lose their spiritual passion is that they don’t own up to sin that is in their lives.

In our text in Psalm 51, he said, "Create in me a clean heart." The assumption behind that is that he believed that his heart was dirty. Sin had invaded the most secret and inner part of his life and brought along its life-draining influence. David knew that if there was to be any restoration, it had to start here. In fact, he was very conscious of the sin he had covered up. In verse 2 he says, "Wash me... cleanse me." In verse 7 he says, "Purify me... wash me."

Unconfessed, unrepentant sin and zeal for the things of God cannot coexist in the same person. Just as filling up a jug with water forces out the air it contains, so sin in a life forces out the joy of the Lord.

A man felt a suspicious "bump" as he pulled his car into the driveway and came to a stop in his carport. Sure enough, one of the rear tires was flat, exposing the metal cord of the steel-belted radial. The next morning, when he visited the tire dealer, he noticed that the same brand of tire on the other side of the car showed no such wear. He asked why. He was told that a nail had stuck in the rubber and transferred rust to the steel belts, weakening the interior of the tire. That in turn caused the belt and the tread to separate. Just a neglected nail and a little rust caused the whole tire to break down.

The same is true of a life lived for God. Neglected, unconfessed sin transfers feelings of guilt to the inner steel belts of your life. Zeal for God is corrupted with the resultant rust. At first, nothing appears to be wrong. You may even "keep driving" on it, but after awhile things begin to break down. Warmth of love for the Lord cools; interest in God's Word declines; prayer becomes less important. Soon spiritual progress comes to a bumping halt. You have a spiritual "flat tire." Just like the car you once enjoyed driving would become a miserable means of transportation with a flat tire, so your spiritual life becomes miserable. You’re easily bored. The joy of salvation is gone.

David said in Psalm 66:18, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear." A sense of spiritual isolation begins to accumulate – a reflection of what is really happening inside. That isolation is real because unrepentant sin cuts us off from God. It is not that God couldn’t hear. It’s that He turns away his ear. When we pray He will not hear. Listen to what God told the nation of Israel about this in Isaiah 59:1: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short That it cannot save; Neither is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear."

Sin is always at the root of an apathetic attitude somewhere. What I am saying here is that if you want to get back on solid ground with God, you must search for the real cause. Before you blame the preacher or the church or the weather or the parents who raised you or the budget deficit or the exchange rate of the Greenback in Tokyo or whatever else you are accustomed to blaming, look at your life! Search for the real cause.

Secondly,

II. Seek a Clean Heart from God.

"Create in me a clean heart, o God," David said in verse 10. Israel’s foremost songwriter knew he could not give himself a clean heart. No human being can. David didn't go to Nathan the prophet for it. He didn't call a priest. It had to come from God.

People search the world over for something worth living for - something to give their life to - a passion to make life worthwhile. Often that kind of search is what brings them to God in the first place. They think, "I'll try God." So they do. But in the process, some don't really surrender to Him. They hold some of themselves back for their own selfish purposes. Yes, when they are baptized, they are happy. Often it is because everyone else around them is happy for them and they are caught up in the idea that so many people are joyous about this thing they have done. Over the weeks and months to come, it all drains away and they find themselves bored and uninterested in spiritual things. Pretty soon the boat or the RV or the new house is what consumes their passion. Why? What happened? Often the reason is that they held some part of themselves back. They didn't fully surrender to God. They kept back some item that God calls sin.

Did you notice in these verses the source of the joy of salvation? The source is God. It is not circumstances. It's not some extra spiritual worship service where the singing and preaching are always great. Sure, those things are nice, but they are no substitute for the joy that comes directly from God when a person is right with Him. David didn't ask Nathan the prophet to preach an extra motivating sermon so that he could regain his spiritual zeal. He asked God to restore to him the joy of his salvation! If you find yourself in need of such joy, you must go to God to get it.

It's like the man who bought a new hunting dog - a tracking hound. Eager to see how he would perform, he took the dog out one day to see what he would do with some big game. No sooner had they gotten into the woods than the dog picked up the trail of a bear. Excitedly the hunter followed close behind. Suddenly the dog stopped, sniffed the ground, and headed in a different direction. He had caught the smell of a deer that had crossed the path of the bear. A few moments later he halted again, this time captivated by the scent of a rabbit that had crossed the path of the deer. On and on it went until finally the breathless hunter caught up with his dog, only to find him barking triumphantly down the hole of a field mouse! If you want a clean heart you have to go to God and not allow yourself to be distracted from your course by the many things that seem exciting for the moment, but don't really deliver.

If you’re going to regain the joy of your salvation, you must go to God to get it. If you are going to come into the presence of the God, you must have a clean heart.

Thirdly, if you want to regain your spiritual zeal, you must:

III. Settle for Nothing Less than God’s Continued Presence.

David said in verse 11b, "And do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me." Then in 12b,he said, "And sustain me with a willing spirit."

Was David in danger of losing the presence of God's Holy Spirit? Apparently he was or he wouldn't have asked God about the matter. Surely David must have recalled how the Holy Spirit had departed from his predecessor, Saul when he refused to face up to his sins.

Can such a thing happen to a Christian? (Does the Holy Spirit ever depart from a person?)

I know that some people believe that once you become a Christian, you can never lose your salvation no matter what you do or don't do. Its proponents call the doctrine "Eternal Security" or "the Perseverance of the Saints". Some very popular preachers hold it. I admit, it surely sounds inviting. One of the obvious questions I've asked people who believe it though, is "What about a person who becomes a Christian and then continues to live with gusto for the devil? Is such a person going to heaven? The answer is often worded something like this: "Well, no, such a person cannot go to heaven. You see, he was never saved in the first place."

Never saved in the first place? Well then how can you know if you're really saved? The doctrine sounds more like eternal insecurity to me! The truth is, they've just transferred the uncertainty to a different spot in the salvation picture. Actually, there are some places in the Bible that sound like they are teaching that you can never lose your salvation. But I believe that a careful consideration of all the Bible says on the subject will lead to a different conclusion. Hebrews 6:4-6 says, "For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame."

If we can't fall away, why did the Hebrew writer say we could? If a person openly, willfully, and continually insults the Spirit of grace, God will remove His Spirit from that person. That is exactly what David feared in this passage in Psalm 51 when he said, "Do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me."

My point is that you should be concerned for God's abiding presence, ask that God not take His Spirit from you. Of course, implied in that is the assumption that you have repented of all known sin so that the Spirit will continue to live in you. Prior to the verses we've been reading in Psalm 51, David said in verse 4, "Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight, so that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, and blameless when Thou dost judge."

David had faced up to his sin and turned away from it. We call those two items confession and repentance. They are both essential on a regular basis if you are to regain and keep the joy of your salvation. Neglect them and the joy will leave.

It’s good to do a periodic spiritual inventory and house cleaning where you get alone with God and make a concerted effort to confess everything you know you have done wrong. Then ask God to search you again and sweep out anything you've missed. Then before you leave that place, make up your mind what you are going to do differently so that those sins don't reenter your life.

If you really brush it all out and clean it all up, if you are a Christian in the first place, you'll begin to feel the life coming back. You'll know you can pray with no hindrance. God will begin to work in your life again.

Finally, if you want to get back on solid ground with God, you need to:

IV. Share the Good News when You Have Returned.

When one knows he or she is right with God and has God's indwelling Spirit, how can that person not be thrilled with the joy of salvation? Someone condemned to the second death has been spared! There is life where there once was death! One will go to heaven that should have gone to hell! Who could not be excited about that?

What if you were starving and very near death and suddenly someone came along and brought you food? Wouldn't that be the most important event of your life? Wouldn't you tell people about your great deliverance from death?

When a person realizes the transaction that has taken place, first the magnitude of the danger, then the dimension of the rescue, how can he keep quiet?

Rowland Hill, a well-known preacher in England once said, "Beware! I am in earnest! Men call me a fanatic, but I am not. Mine are words of truth and soberness. When I first came into this part of the country I was walking on a hill. I saw a gravel pit fall in and bury three human beings alive. I lifted up my voice for help so loud that I was heard in the town below, a distance of one mile. Help came and rescued two of the poor men. No one called me a fanatic then! When I see eternal destruction ready to fall upon people around me, and about to entomb them irrevocably in an eternal mass of woe, and call on them to escape by fleeing to Christ, shall I be called a fanatic?

Remember the time when Jesus and his disciples came to Jacob's well at the edge of Samaria and they met the "woman at the well?" The disciples went on into the city to buy food because they were all hungry and it was lunchtime. Jesus stayed behind and taught this lady about Himself and the salvation that was coming. When the disciples returned with the food they offered Him some and He responded, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." (John 4:32). The disciples thought someone else had slipped him some food. But He explained to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work." (v. 34).

The same food is available for Jesus' followers today. You partake of it when you spread the news of the joy of salvation! It is high-energy spiritual food that will invigorate your life.

Conclusion

In a remote Swiss village stood a beautiful church building known as the Mountain Valley Cathedral. Not only was it beautiful to look at - with its high pillars and magnificent stained glass windows - it also had a majestic old pipe organ that people would come from far away to hear.

A problem developed, however. Though the columns were still there and the stained glass windows still dazzled the eyes of tourists, there was an eerie silence. The mountain valley no longer echoed with the sound of that fine-tuned pipe organ. Something had gone wrong with it and no one seemed to know just what. Musicians and experts from around the world were called in to try to repair it. Each time a new person arrived to try to fix it the villagers were again subjected to awful sounds of disharmony and discord. One after another the experts came and went but no one could figure out what was wrong. Then one day an old man appeared at the door of the church building. He spoke with the caretaker who, after a time, reluctantly agreed to let him try his hand at repairing the organ. For two days the old man worked in almost total silence. The caretaker was getting a bit nervous. Then on the third day at noon, the mountain valley once again was filled with the organ’s music. Farmers dropped their plows, merchants closed their stores - everyone in town stopped what they were doing and headed in the direction of the sound.

After the old man finished his playing, someone asked him how he managed to fix the organ when all the experts had failed. The old man merely said it was a problem deep inside the workings of the instrument. "It was I who built this organ fifty years ago. I created it and now I have restored it."

There is only One who can restore us to solid ground with God and that is God Himself. We must go to Him. If that’s what you need, I encourage you to do it today.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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