We continue in our summer series looking at Psalms. Tonight, our psalm is Psalm 85. Psalm 85. You can find that on page 493 in your pew Bible. Before I read the psalm, let’s go to God and ask for His help as we study His Word.
God our Father, what a joy and weighty thing it is to hear from Your Word. May we soak it in, may we cling to it, may we believe it, may we act on it, and may this all happen by the power of Your Holy Spirit. How we need Your words of truth tonight. And God, I ask that You would speak through Your Word, that the words I would say would be in accordance with Your truth. And Lord, we ask that You would get all the glory because You deserve all the glory. And we pray all this in Christ’s name, amen.
This is Psalm 85:
“To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.
Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.
Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky. Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way.”
Amen. This is God’s Word.
Well there are those days, those moments in my life when I have been hammered by the weight of my sin, broken by the depth of it, by the ugliness of it. And I look back on those times of when I felt the acute weight of my sin. And those were hard days. Those are hard days. But those are good days. Those are good days because those are the moments in which the Lord is working repentance in my heart. That wonderful gift of repentance. And so this psalm this evening, it is a model of repentance for us and it shows us that repentance is a good and beautiful gift. And so Psalm 85 is for anyone who is burdened by the weight of their sin and guilt and who is in distress because of their sin. It is a beautiful picture of repentance, a beautiful picture of turning back to God. And so that is the call of this psalm. It is to see the beauty of repentance, and yet my prayer, and my hope and my longing for all of us here is not just that we will observe what repentance looks like, it’s that we will come to Jesus and that we will repent deeply and that we will repent thoroughly and that we will repent more quickly and that we will live a lifestyle of ongoing repentance. And so this psalm tonight, it’s a call to experience the beauty of the gift of repentance.
We’re going to look at this in four ways. First, you need to see the precedent for repentance. The precedence for repentance. Secondly, the plea of repentance. Third, the promise of repentance. And finally, the product of repentance. The precedent, the plea, the promise, and the product of repentance.
Well first, let’s look at this. What is the precedent for repentance? The precedent for repentance is that God has proven over and over throughout history, throughout all time, from the very first time that mankind sinned that He loves to forgive. Verse 1, “Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.” God has been kind to His people even when His people have gone astray, even when His people have sinned. Verse 2, God has carried away the sins of His people and He has covered their iniquity. He has removed the sins from His people and He has covered over our sins. The guilty stains that cry out for justice and that cry out, deserving God’s wrath, He has covered over those guilty stains. Verse 3 says that God withdrew all His wrath; He turned from His hot anger. The blazing anger that He has against sin and evil and rebellion, He withdrew it; He has turned from it and He has withdrawn from it in order to pour it out elsewhere.
This is what God does. This is what God did in history. “This is a tale,” as Christopher Ash says, “of some old covenant rescue.” But this covenant rescue is the same pattern – this pattern of covenant rescue is the same pattern in which God works now with His people. You see, in the Old Testament, this pattern of covenant rescue, it was symbolized by bloody sacrifices and a scapegoat taking the sins of the people. This was not to appease God, but this was actually to point forward to when God Himself would become the scapegoat. His blazing hot righteous anger. It did not subside. It did not just vanish or evaporate. Scripture tells us that God took it upon Himself for His people. Christ bore it. “Guilty, vile, and helpless we. Perfect Lamb of God was He. Full atonement, can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior!” This is the pattern, this is how God acts, and He acted decisively on the cross. This is who God is – He forgives sinners. He loves to forgive. This is the precedent that we have for repentance.
In human courts, precedent, what has been ruled before, it often gets overturned. We know this. Human courts are imperfect and sometimes rulings need to be overturned. But in God’s court, justice has been perfectly executed upon Christ. The precedent that God will forgive any repentant sinner will not be overturned, will not be undone. And that means that anyone, no matter what sins that that rule you, no matter what sins that you find in your life can come to Jesus with perfect confidence and know that you will be forgiven. You can come and you can repent and you will be received by Him and loved by Him.
Sometimes I have conversations with people who say, “You know, I believe that God is forgiving, I know what the Bible says, but I don’t believe that He can forgive me. I don’t believe that God’s forgiveness will reach me. I don’t believe that God will receive my repentance.” Well, to be frank, this is, in a sense, to call God a fraud, to accuse Him of being unjust. And can God be unjust? Will God punish, will God punish two people for one crime? No. His justice is perfect and it has been perfectly executed upon Christ on the cross and God loves to forgive. This is who He is. In fact, Scripture tells us that heaven rejoices when a sinner repents. So there’s the precedent. There’s all the proof you need from history, from what God has done, to come to Him with your sin, to turn from your sin to Him to repent. And that’s because God loves to forgive. He loves to bless. He has always been this way. The precedent for repentance.
But secondly, you need to see the plea of repentance. The plea of repentance. What is the plea of repentance? What are we asking for when we repent? What does the repent heart want? Well certainly forgiveness, but this text tells us that it’s actually much more than forgiveness. It is a plea for restoration. “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?” This is a plea for more than forgiveness. This is a plea for God to return to us a right state of heart – one that knows real fellowship, one that knows real joy in the Lord. Not just to be accepted, but to be embraced. Not just to be forgiven, but to be restored. Restoration. This is the plea of repentance. It’s also a plea for renewal. Verse 6, “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” This is asking God to return to the sinful soul who looks to Jesus the joy of adoption, the joy of being a son or daughter of the living King, to once again enjoy real fellowship with Him, real praise, real life. For God to revive us again, to know and walk in and to understand the love of God and to praise Him for His steadfast love.
William Plumer says that, “A right state of heart is a greater gift to the Christian or to the pious man than any relief from temporary distress.” And that is what the repentant heart wants – a right state of heart to again enjoy a relationship with God the Father. So, for example, when I, on very rare occasions apologize to Abby, what do I want when I apologize? I want more than just the acknowledgment of forgiveness. I want the return of the sweetness and the unity of our relationship. I want restoration. I want reconciliation. I want renewal. And this is what the repentant heart longs for. And so the repentant heart, when you repent, to truly repent, it is not first about the consequences of our sin being taken care of or dealt with. It’s not just about a token of forgiveness. It is a plea for a right state of heart, granted again by God, a right state of heart that enjoys fellowship, praise, that enjoys the presence of the Holy Spirit. And so my question for us is, “When we come to God and when we confess our sins, when we acknowledge our sins, do we want God? Do we want Him or do we want Him to forgive us and leave us alone?” The plea of repentance is a plea for restoration, for renewal and reconciliation.
And so how do we ask? How is this plea made? Well it’s made in humility for sure, but also it’s made in confidence. It’s made in confidence because of who God is. Verse 7 says, “Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.” Commentators point out that this is actually a more hopeful phrase than just a question. The second part of verse 7 is not saying, “Please, if You can find it in Your heart, just think about it. Would You maybe show us Your salvation?” It’s really to say, “Lord, give us Your salvation.” And as Augustine says, “Your salvation” can be translated, “Your Christ.” So it is a confident plea saying to God, “Keep Your promise. Send Your Christ.” The plea of repentance is a plea for Christ. It is a plea for Christ’s blood and His righteousness, His blood to be spilled and His righteousness to be counted to us. It is not to say, “I will try harder” or “Please just give me another chance.” The plea of repentance is a plea of faith. It’s to plead Christ, to plead Christ alone. And in Christ alone to be restored. The plea of repentance is to look to Jesus and live. That is the plea of repentance.
So we’ve seen the plea of repentance, and now we need to see the promise of repentance. What happens when we repent? What does God do? Well the promise of repentance can be seen in verse 8. “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints.” God declares peace to the repentant soul. What does this mean? Well this word “peace” means more than just a treaty or an agreement to end conflict. This is actually a declaration from God in an answer, an answer of “Yes” to everything the psalmist pleas in the prior verses – for restoration, for renewal, for reconciliation. And it goes farther than that. This declaration of peace is a declaration of redemption. This word “peace,” “shalom,” it means “total healing.” Total future healing for God’s people, for all of creation when Christ returns. Internal wholeness. Relational wholeness between God and men. And creational wholeness. “Surely,” verse 9 says, “Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.” And so the promise of repentance is far better, far better than a clean slate, far better than mere acceptance. Just like we read in Luke 15 this morning – we’re not just merely accepted. We are thrown a party. And when we come to God in repentance, we’re not just, we’re not just accepted; we are redeemed. We are redeemed by pleading Christ. It’s a beautiful promise that God makes to us, and it’s an invitation to bring our sin to Him, to forsake our sin, to look to Christ.
But there’s a warning. There’s a warning in verse 8. Verse 8 tells us at the end, it says, “but let them not turn back to folly.” This is important. This is important because it reminds us of what is true of repentance – that true repentance, it endeavors after new obedience. True repentance does not presume upon God’s grace. It does not take God’s grace for granted. It does not use God’s grace to then make sin permissible. True repentance is a pledge. It is a pledge of covenant loyalty to God. “Let them not turn back to folly.” However, what this is not saying is that you need to well up within yourself by your own strength this perfect desire to be rid of your sin, perfect motivations before you can repent. Like the little engine that could, “I think I can…I think I can…” looking inward, thinking, “I can do it.” That is not what this is saying. The power of repentance is always in God’s grace, in God’s strength, in God’s goodness.
John Owen is so helpful here. He writes of God speaking peace and he says, “When God speaks peace, it guides and it keeps the soul that it turn not again to folly. In God speaking peace there comes along such sweetness and such a discovery of His love that it obligates obedience.” You know, if you think of a raging river over hundreds and hundreds of years and the force of the water as it smooths out the rocks beneath and makes clear a pathway, this is what happens when we see God’s declaration of peace to us as we repent. It wears smooth the pathways of our hearts and it makes us able to believe. It makes us able to repent. It makes us able to repent more often and deeply and frequently. It works both ways. It’s faith and repentance. As we repent, we see God in His goodness more clearly. And as we see God in His goodness more clearly, we are more willing and able to repent, coming home over and over again, and experiencing over and over again more and more of God’s love.
So do you want to know the incredible love of God the Father? Repent. Repent often. Repent deeply. Live a lifestyle of repentance. Mature saints are not the ones in this life who no longer need to repent. Mature saints are the ones who repent quickly and often and deeply and thoroughly because they know their need and they know their Savior. They are ones who keep short accounts with God. Live a lifestyle of repentance. And in doing so, you will discover again and again and again the wonders of redeeming love. That is the promise of repentance. We need to see this promise.
Lastly, we need to see the product of repentance. What is it that repentance produces in us? Well this psalm tells us that repentance produces a harvest of righteousness. A harvest of righteousness; real, Gospel-produced fruit. Now this harvest of righteousness, it is grounded in the righteousness of Christ. Verse 10, “Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” Christ is the perfect embodiment. He was perfectly faithful, perfectly righteous. He was the perfect one of steadfast love. He is the embodiment of this. And in Him and only in Him do we receive the righteousness that God, this imputed righteousness that God gives us. We are covered by the perfection of Jesus when we look to Him in faith. And just as God the Father looked down upon His Son and said, “This is My Son in whom I am well pleased,” when we look to Christ in faith and repentance, God looks at us and says, “This is My Son. This is My daughter in whom I am well pleased.”
As we are covered in Christ’s righteousness, God looks down upon us in grace and favor. And so verse 11 says that, “Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky.” Charles Spurgeon says, “This is a delicious scene.” He says, “It is as if heaven is flinging open its windows and whereas before heaven could not bear to look on sinful people, now, now God Himself looks down upon His people, covered in Christ’s righteousness, and actually producing real fruit of righteousness and He looks down in grace and favor and delight.” It is Jesus’ righteousness covering us and His Spirit working in us as we follow Him that produces real virtue, real Gospel fruit. “As God,” Spurgeon says, “As God looks down on people in favor, man looks up in obedience.”
And so as we recognize what Christ has done for us, real fruit blossoms, real fruit springs up. Real virtue that honors God and that blesses people – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, doing justice, loving kindness, love for God, love for neighbor, real, beautiful Christ-like virtue that honors God and blesses people. This is the harvest of righteousness that comes from repentance. Verse 12, “Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way.” One author says that we move from basking to following. We move from gazing at Jesus and the glory of His grace and His goodness to us to following Him in righteousness. This is the product of repentance – a harvest of real righteousness. Not perfectly here in this life but one day, one day fully.
The PyongYang revival of 1907 that was on the Korean peninsula – there was a midweek, multi-week Bible study lead by the Presbyterian Church in Korea. And it led to an explosion of Christianity on the Korean peninsula. There was one particular evening where the revival, essentially, broke out and it exploded into the community. And for years and years, the Korean peninsula felt the impact of this revival. And as theologians and scholars look back on what happened, they look at, at least from man’s perspective, the ingredients, the factors of this revival. And there was prayer, of course. There was Scripture, of course. But also, there was deep and heartfelt repentance. William Blair, a missionary who witnessed all of this, said that, “The night that the revival began, every sin a human being could commit was publicly confessed.” He said that the tears and the confessions, it was not confined to just that night, that Christians moved out into the community, they repented of their wrongdoings, they restored relationships where they could, they returned stolen goods. And in the next seventy years, there was roughly 2.5 million new Christians added to the protestant faith in the Korean peninsula and about 1,300 new churches planted.
So do we want revival? Do we want restoration? Do we want peace with God? Do we want joy in the Lord? Do we want a harvest of righteousness? Well this is the call for all of us. It’s to experience the good gift, the beautiful gift of repentance, to turn to Christ, and by His power, forsake our sin, to look to Jesus and in the light of His beauty and grace, forsake our sins. There is no more beautiful invitation than this. And for anyone in this room who may have, even at the beginning of my sermon said, “I don’t know that I need this because I am not in distress over my sin, I am not burdened by my sin, well you need to hear what God says. He says that He “opposes the proud and He gives grace to the humble.” The call is not to trifle with God; do not deny your need to repent. But it’s to acknowledge your sin, to see your sin, to confess it and to run to Christ Jesus. And in Him, you will find life.
Let me pray that for all of us we will experience deeper and richer repentance.
God, thank You that we have the great privilege, even as we stumble and fall in this life of running home to You, over and over again, and how that cements Your wonderful love into our hearts. And God, we really don’t know what we would do. We would be lost in our sin were it not for Your forgiveness. And we would not know You. We would not enjoy You. And so thank You that You receive us, You forgive us, You restore us, You renew us, and You promise perfect peace to us. And so Lord, would we all go from here, maybe for the first time, but all of us, Lord, would we go from here living a lifestyle of repentance, a lifestyle of repentance and faith. And we pray this in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.