The Template for Confession and Repentance (Psalm 51--Summer in the Psalms VI)(ARBC Worship 6.2.24)

Ministry: www.arbc.net
Preacher: Matthew Perry, Lead Pastor
Here we approach the Psalms once again and for good reasons. The Psalms teach us how to pray, how to praise, and how to confess and repent. Martin Luther rightly said that the Christian life is a life of daily repentance.
Sometimes, our hearts can grow hardened to where we are either not aware of our sin, don’t care about our sin, or misunderstand God’s grace that we may think that our sin isn’t in play anymore because God’s a God of grace--He won’t think anything about my sin. All he will see is that we try our best.
Templates are helpful. When I’m putting together a presentation on PowerPoint or Google Slides, they include different types of templates I can use. Some are quite professional (some would say boring) while others are more lively and exciting. When I’m teaching my preaching class at CCU, I give our students a template of preaching that is a helpful foundation:
● Here’s what: information
● So what? Explanation
● Show what! Illustration
● Now what? Application
Templates were originally seen as “a shaped piece of metal, wood, card, plastic, or other material used as a pattern for processes such as painting, cutting out, shaping, or drilling.” But the word expanded to mean a pattern or a model for others to copy. Psalm 51 is that template, that pattern, that model.
This psalm shows us not only the joy of a relationship with the Lord (and no joy on earth surpasses the joy we have in Jesus) but also us how are restored from that which separates us from Him.