How to Come Back When You’re Down

From the Love Word Finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler, here with Kerry Vaughn, the CEO of Love Word Finding.

Kerry, today we are in a series, Back to the Basics, and we're going to look at a message from Adrian Rogers, how to come back when you're down. Now, you know, you and I both know that's not a license to sin, but we do have the opportunity to come under the blanket of grace, and I praise God for that. Well, in today's passage, we'll look at King David in Psalm 51, and even though he was known as a man after God's own heart, he committed some serious sins, starting with adultery, trying to cover that sin. He committed murder. But David also demonstrated great brokenness over his sin, and he confessed and he repented.

Absolutely, and he goes down in the history books as a hero of the faith, and God used him mightily. So, you know, sin is not final, and failure is not final. Well, as we discuss this issue of failure and how to come back when you're down, Adrian Rogers had this to say. Did you know if you're doing what you ought to be doing, you can't be doing what you ought not to have been doing? And so once you get your heart clean, you get back into service for our Lord. Confidence, confession, cleansing, consecration. This is a good Psalm, isn't it? It's a wonderful Psalm, and thank God it's a warning, but what a great encouragement it is. Now, don't get the idea because we can be cleansed it makes no difference whether or not we sin.

Just as surely as you put your hand on a hot stove and get burned, if you sin, you're bound to suffer. But thank God for his wonderful, marvelous, matchless grace. Boy, that's good. You know, I think many times Dr. Rogers talked about doing a self-evaluation of self-check. You know, we think about that daily, but you know, Byron, sometimes that's hourly. Am I clean and close before God?

And I want to be sure that I've repented and that I'm cleansed from that sin so that I can be used by him for kingdom purpose. Well, it is our joy, Kerry, as you know, to hear from our love we're finding listeners. And we get response from all over the world, literally, people sharing what this ministry means to them and their spiritual walk with Christ.

Well, here's one. I look forward to seeing Pastor Rogers again. His sermons are classic and timeless. I thank God for this faithful servant. Amen. You know, and we see that. We see that Isaiah 55, 11, his word will not return void, but it shall accomplish that which he pleases. And that is truly the ministry of love we're finding.

And Kerry, part of us being faithful in our walk is being consistent with the basics, you know. And so this program series we're in right now, Back to the Basics, through the month of January, there's a resource available, and it's called What Every Christian Ought to Know. It's an eight-week video series with Adrian Rogers, basically like setting down in a casual way, video style. It's online at lwf.org.

You know, Byron, I'll add to that. This is truly 50 years of ministry poured into one program. I mean, 50 years of ministry of the life of Dr. Adrian Rogers in a segment where you can go through as a group, as a society, take advantage of it. Well, What Every Christian Ought to Know can be streamed from our website at lwf.org, and it can also be downloaded so you can watch it when it's convenient for you.

Right. So I encourage you to do that. Again, lwf.org, What Every Christian Ought to Know.

Well, with today's message, how to come back when you're down, here's Adrian Rogers. Now, Psalm 51 is the story of David's repentance after his sin. You know that David committed the sin of adultery, and then trying to cover it up, he committed the sin of, at the best, manslaughter, at the worst, cold-blooded murder. But this Psalm is the Psalm of a penitent, because not only was David a great sinner, David was a great repenter, and that's why I love Psalm 51.

Three basic things I want you to think about. The very first thing is this, the capability of sin in the saint. Now, what I mean by that is that any of us have the capability to sin. When we get saved, that does not mean that we lose our capacity to sin. Many times, sin in a saint is an unexpected opportunity and an undetected weakness.

And when those two come together, we fall into sin. The Bible says if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Now, we've already told you that when the child of God sins, if he's truly a child of God, that sin cannot take away his salvation. But that does not mean that he can sin with impunity. I want to say just as surely as you put your hand on a hot stove, you get burned, if you're bound to sin, you're bound to suffer, whether you're saved or whether you're lost. Now, I want us to move not only from the capability of sin to the consequences of sin. What happens when a Christian sins?

I want to list some things here. Look in Psalm 51. David says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Now, the first thing that sin does in the life of a child of God, the first consequence is this, it soils his soul. David says, Wash me, cleanse me. Now, why did David do that? Well, he felt dirty. He's not dirty physically. He's a king.

He bathed in his lavish marble tub. He slept on his silken sheets. He wore his royal robes, and yet he feels grimy. He feels filthy. He feels dirty. Did you know that's one way that you can know that you're saved?

Not whether or not you can sin, but does your sin make you feel dirty? You see, there's a difference between a child of God and a child of the devil. The child of the devil sins, and it doesn't bother him. He may take God's name in vain, and you rebuke him. He says, what'd I say?

Well, what's wrong with that? He has no difficulty with sin. There's a difference between a child of God and a child of Satan that's just like a pig wallows, and you know, no pig has ever felt dirty. No pig has ever said, woe is me. I'm a dirty pig.

A sheep may fall in the mud. It wants to get out, but the pig just lies there because that's the pig's nature. The pig doesn't feel dirty. The difference between a child of God and a child of the devil is this. The child of God may lapse into sin, and he loathes it. The child of the devil leaps into sin, and he loves it. Now, David sinned, but David felt dirty. He felt grimy.

He said, oh, God, wash me. Cleanse me. If you can sin, and that sin does not make you feel grimy and dirty, I doubt that you've ever been saved.

I doubt that you have the Holy Spirit living in you. Now, that's the first thing sin does. The second thing sin does, not only does it soil the soul, but sin also saturates the mind. Notice in verse 3, for I acknowledge my transgression.

I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me, ever before me, night and day, day and night. The thing that David had done reverberates through his soul and echoes through his consciousness. He cannot get rid of it.

It is there. It is an indelible mark. It is a wound to his psyche. It saturates his mind. Now, if you can sin and easily forget that sin, I doubt that you've been saved, because the Holy Spirit of God is there to remind you of that sin.

And David said, my sin is ever before me. Does that mean, Pastor Rogers, if I sin, I'll be thinking about it 24 hours a day? Maybe not in your conscious mind, but it will be there in your subconscious.

You may kick it out the front door. It'll run around the house and come in the basement window, and it will show up as a migraine headache. It'll show up as the inability to concentrate. It will show up as an irritable temper. It will show up as the inability to pray. It will show up in other ways. I'm not saying that if you have a migraine that it's because you're a backslider, but I'm saying that some people have one because they are. Their sin is ever before them.

It's there. It saturates the mind. You see, there are two kinds of wounds that can come to the human psyche. One is guilt, and the other is sorrow. You see, sorrow is a clean wound, and sorrow, because it is a clean wound, will heal. It's a deep wound, a raw wound. It hurts, but it will heal because it's a clean wound. But guilt is a dirty wound. It festers and festers and festers, and it will never heal until it is cleansed.

So what does this do? It soils the soul. It saturates the mind. And the third thing it does, it stings the conscience. Look in verse 4. Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Now, here David is conscience-stricken. Here David is not crying out against the punishment. He's crying out against the sin.

He says, oh, my God, I have sinned against you. Some people say, well, David sinned against his kingdom. He did. Well, you say, David sinned against his family. He did. You say, David sinned against his body.

He did. But that's not what bothered David primarily. David was a child of God. David said, oh, God, against thee and thee only have I sinned. And David saw sin for what it really is, an affront to a holy God, and it was the God who loved him, the God who had redeemed him.

Now, listen very carefully. If all you're afraid of is the punishment for your sin, I doubt that you've been saved. If you're a child of God, when you sin, you don't weep primarily because you're going to get punished. You weep primarily because you have disgraced your God. Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Oh, God, I'm so ashamed I sinned against you. Not only, God, did I break your law, I broke your heart. You see, that's the difference between a slave and a son.

A slave, when he disobeys, fears the whip, his master's lash. But a son, when he disobeys, if he's a loving son, fears the father's displeasure and is brokenhearted that he has broken the heart of God. Does your sin bother you that way? When you sin, do you say, oh, my God?

My God, I sinned against you. It stings the conscience. It stings the conscience.

I'll tell you something else it does. It saddens the heart. Look in verse 51. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken me rejoice. Look in verse 12, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Now, he's not asking to have a salvation restored. You can be saved and be miserable. The most miserable man on earth is not an unsaved man. Many unsaved people are having a ball.

They're living high, wide, and handsome. A lot of fun. Never tell anybody you can't have any pleasure if you're not saved.

Number one, it's a lie. The Bible speaks of the pleasures of sin. Now, the Bible says they're for a season, but the Bible speaks of the pleasures of sin. And David here is miserable, and he's saved. He's a child of God, and he is praying God, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. The most miserable man on earth is not a lost man. The most miserable man on earth is a saved man out of fellowship with God.

Isn't that true? When God saves you, God doesn't fix you where you can't sin anymore. He just fixes you where you can't sin and enjoy it anymore.

That's what God does. When God saves you. David is praying, Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.

Now, not only that, not only does it sadden the heart, but it also sickens the body. Look in verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Well, did God put a hammerlock on David and break his bones? Not literally. This is poetry, and David is using poetry.

David is a poet. We do the same thing today. We use the same analogy today. We say, I was just crushed. Does that mean a steamroller went over us? No, he's talking in poetic terms. What he's saying is, God, you have me under extreme pressure. The bones which thou hast broken. It's almost as if God has David in his hands, and God is just squeezing the life out of David.

Sometimes people think, well, if we sin, God will just cast us off. Oh, no, he squeezes all the tighter. That's the thing. He's saying, make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. There's incredible pressure. Now, if you keep that pressure on for a long time, it's going to make you sick. Did you know that the pressure of sin can sicken your body if you're a child of God? Did you know that many children of God are sicker than they ought to be? Now, sickness is a very complicated thing.

There are many reasons for sickness, but one of the reasons for sickness is sin in the life of the child of God. So, if you've lost your joy, no wonder you might get sick, because a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Did you know when you're right with God, you stand straighter? Did you know when you're right with God, you smile more? Did you know when you're right with God, you sleep better? Did you know that when you're right with God, you digest your food better? I'm just telling you, friend, that a merry heart is one of the best medicines you can take, but you can't have that joy of the Lord if you are a backslider walking away from God. Here is David, a child of God, and he is perfectly miserable.

I'll tell you something else it does. It sours the spirit. Look in verse 10.

Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit. David had a wrong spirit. Have you ever seen a backslidden person with a sour spirit? You know, I'd much rather be around a good, old-fashioned, unsaved pagan than a backslidden Christian. The most censorious, cantacrist, vituperative, can't-get-along-with type of individual I've ever known are backsliders. Because they're miserable on the inside and because they're condemned, they're trying to push their misery off on everybody else.

You watch a person with a sour spirit, a person with a wrong spirit. They are the most critical persons in our church. You know, they think that God gave them the gift of criticism. Do you know what their problem is? They are backslidden.

No dish on the table looks good to a person with a sour stomach. They just find fault everywhere with everything. The case in point. David had committed adultery, and then trying to cover it up, he committed the sin of manslaughter. Nathan the prophet came to speak to him.

He didn't come to talk about church finance either. He came to talk about David's sin. He told David a story about a man who had a little pet lamb that was like his own daughter, ate from his table. A poor man. He lived next door to a very rich man. This rich man had thousands of flocks and herds, and then the rich man had a stranger to stop by, and the rich man took the poor man's lamb, killed it, cooked it, and fed it to the stranger. He said, now, David, you're the king. Tell us what ought to be done to the man who's done this thing. Well, David was livid with rage.

He jumped up from his throne. I can see him as he clenches his fists, grits his teeth, and says, the man that has done that will pay fourfold. And Nathan the prophet said, and you're the man. You're the man.

You are the man. David, you have just sentenced yourself in your own court. It was all an analogy. The little lamb was Bathsheba, the one that David had stolen. And what had happened was this, that David was quick to judge a man that had stolen a lamb.

He had stolen another man's wife. David was quick to judge the man who had killed an animal, but he had killed a human being. And yet, he was quick to judge somebody else. You'll always find those who are backslidden are very careful to judge people for less sin than they have in their own lives. They are the ones who go around trying to pick specks out of other people's eye when they have logs in their own eye. They have a sour spirit.

Are you one of those sour-spirited people? Oh, you'll feel so much better when you get back right with God. And then the last thing that sin does in the life of a child of God, not only does it sour his spirit, but it seals his lips. Look, if you will, here, in verse 12. 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 aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. Now, sin in the life of a Christian shuts his mouth.

It seals his lips. David said, when I get right, then I'll be a soul winner. When I get right, then I'll be a singer. When I get right, then I will praise.

Do you know how you can tell whether or not a person is backslidden or not? When a person is backslidden, as a general rule, as a general rule, singing just stops. Oh, he'll sing, but it doesn't come from his heart. Praise withers.

Soul winning stops altogether. Because sin shuts his mouth, the devil says, who are you to be singing? Oh, what a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my heart. Oh, who are you to be singing what a mighty God we serve? Who are you to be testifying and telling somebody else they need to get saved when you are such a miserable example and you have no joy and you have no peace and you don't even have any real assurance in your own heart and in your own life.

And the devil intimidates so many people because there's sin in their heart and in their life. Now, all of these things put together are things that happen in this life. And then, as we're going to show you in a later study, when you come to the judgment seat of Christ, oh, what a loss of reward there will be. But very quickly now, how do you come back? How do you come back?

When you get into this situation, how do you come back? Three very simple and wonderful things. Oh, I love this psalm.

It is so wonderful, the very first, and they all start with the letter C, and I want you to jot them down. The very first thing is confidence, confidence. You must have confidence that God still loves you. Notice how David prays, beginning 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 had confidence in his God. David knew that for a multitude of sins, there were a multitude of tender mercies. You see, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. David knew that he was a sinner, but David knew that God was full of lovingkindness.

That is confidence. Now, the next C is confession. Notice what he says in verse 3, For I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before me.

Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judges. This is a confession. The Bible says in 1 John 1-9, If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us, hallelujah, from all unrighteousness. Now, it's not just an admission of sin. It is a confession. He's saying, I sinned against you. There's one thing that God will not accept for sin, friend, and that is an excuse and an alibi. Now, David could have said, Well, it wasn't my fault. My wife wasn't showing me the love I deserved. Or he said, It wasn't my fault. Bathsheba was out there bathing where she shouldn't have been bathing. Or I just, I had a weak moment, but God, you know, all of us are human.

I had a glandular malfunction. I mean, he could have given all of these alibis for sin. There's one thing that God will not accept for sin, and that is an alibi.

First of all, confidence. Secondly, confession. Thirdly, cleansing. Notice he says in verse 2, Wash me thoroughly. Notice he says in verse 7, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Wash me, purge me, blot out my transgressions, he says. When he blots them out, that is, he just erases the record. It's gone. It's blotted out.

It's not there anymore. He just blots it out. It is gone, buried in the grave of God's forgetfulness.

If anybody ever brings it up again, it's the devil bringing it up, or your conscience bringing it up, but God doesn't bring it up. He blots it out. Not only does he blot it out, but he says also, wash me. Not only does he remove the penalty, friend, he removes the pollution.

Friend, he literally purges you on the inside. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is God's triple detergent, and you don't need to go around with a load of guilt anymore. You don't need to go carrying all of that condemnation that Satan has put on you anymore. You can be as clean, wash me, and I shall be what?

Whiter than snow. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that glorious? Hallelujah. What a great God. What a mighty God we serve. There's the capability of sin. There are the consequences of sin, but thank God there's the cleansing of sin. We don't have to carry around our condemnation anymore.

We can be clean. If you have questions regarding your faith in Jesus Christ or how to begin a relationship with God through him, we would love to offer you an insightful resource. It's at our website called the Discover Jesus page. You'll find answers you may need about your faith.

There's a response section. We would love to hear from you today. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab that says Discover Jesus. Do you have any unconfessed sin weighing on you today? Ask God to search your heart and reveal that sin to you. Confess it and be cleansed by God's forgiveness. We're so glad you joined us for today's inspiring lesson from God's word. Tune in tomorrow for more profound truth simply stated by Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding.