Bring Me Back My Joy

Delivered on 8/21/16

            

Psalm 51:10-12
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

I don’t know about you, but there may be someone here tonight that could use a big burst of joy in their lives? I am not talking about that temporary stuff. I am not talking about happiness or being happy because to me happiness only last as long as whatever it is…is making you happy. For example, we are all happy whenever we get our paychecks, correct! Then the reality sets in, that it’s already been spent before it reached the bank. ( Mortgage, bills, utilities, and so on ) So..it was just a temporary happiness. Don’t get me wrong, we are all thankful for God’s provision with being employed.

You see happiness can be like, eating at your favorite restaurant, you look forward to your meal then after that, happiness has been satisfied, and on to the next one. Hapiness can be like, taking a sip of your favorite drink on a hot day, you’ll get a real good rush, your thirst has been satisfied, and then its gone. On to the next one. Another example, we lost our van when I got into that accident. A part of me was really…beaten but happy, in my mind, yeeaay…we can replace our old van. Then reality sets in again,oh no…another monthly payment.

There are too many things in life that can take away our joy. And it just depends on the circumstance that we are in. You know it… you know what I am talking about! You are sitting there right now and you’re thinking about it. It’s heavy, it’s a burden, you feel like it’s the end, and it wont get any better. “ Lord Bring Me Back My Joy”. You are here tonight worshiping our God with a big headache! Correct!

That’s why some of you may be here tonight, and can’t worship and praise our God the right way, “In Spirit and in Truth” ,because your head hurts too much from all of the things and stuff that was suppose to bring you happiness, but instead all it brought you was pain and heartache. 

“Restore to me the joy”, as King David has put it, which is on our text tonight. It is different from the temporary happiness that I have mentioned earlier. Momentary.. material happiness. Having this type of joy is different. When you have this type of joy, you have an invisible strength that comes from Within. You can have this type of joy even when things are not going your way. You can have this kind of joy even in the midst of storms and tribulations. Joy to the believer is something that can be constant because the believer realizes where their joy comes from. It doesn’t come from material things, it is not anything that can be bought. This type of joy can only be given by our Lord, and nobody, or anything in this world can take it away.

But what happens when we lose this joy, or the better question to ask is, can we loose this joy???
Well church… I would have to answer that question with a resounding Yes! It’s possible for even the best of us to lose our joy. I know you may be surprise with my answer, how can we loose something that comes from God? Just bear with me for a little bit and i will explain it to you. It’s possible for even those of us who have been created after God’s own heart to lose our joy. Like King David, why do you think he wrote this psalm, or prayed this psalm. Let me give you a few examples of what is the meaning of “loose”. It can mean, dropped, misplaced, or it even means to be defeated. 

When you lose something it can also mean that you were beaten. And I’m sure some of you may be feeling that way tonight. Beaten!!! It is not that hard to see. Just look at how you worship and praise God tonight. Is it in “Spirit and in Truth”, Or are you giving praise, but your mind and your heart is somewhere else? You just lost your joy!

You see the way you praise and worship can tell a lot about what you are made of. Just by looking at yourself, at your praise and worship, you can tell if you’re winning or losing. Here’s a test, do you remember the time that you were saved, do you remember that joy? Then, where is it now? You cant loose your salvation! What changed, the circumstance? Do you remember coming to worship with nothing on your mind other than giving “Spirit and in Truth”, kind of worship. Do you remember that? Where did that joy go? Do you see what I mean now, of how you loose that joy?

Church…I know it may be hard for you right now, but somehow you have to find a way to bring that joy back. Look at this Psalm ( power point ) Look at what David prayed for. This prayer is not exclusive for King David only. Why cant you and I pray this same prayer. Look...(power point) Look to the person next to you, and say “pray this prayer”.

I bet if you pray this prayer, and get your joy back, you’ll soon find your way in true worship. If you find a way to praise God while going through your circumstance, having that same joy that you had before, then your circumstance will start to look better! Because now you can see the the One that gave you your joy. Nothing is blocking it anymore.

Let us now look at the life of King David and why he had to write this Psalm. It was a psalm that David wrote after he was confronted by Nathan for committing adultery with Bathsheba. You all know the story, if not you can read all about on 2 Samuel, chapter 11-12. It’s too long to put on the power point and we’ll be here all night if I have to show you both chapters. Let me just refresh your memory on the story.

David had everything and didn’t want for anything. He was king of Judah and Israel, and he had strong passions. He was a soldier and he had many wives. Yes,David was living the easy life, nothing to worry about. David was just in bed one evening, and he couldn’t sleep so he decided to get up and take a walk. That’s when he spotted the pretty Bathsheba taking a bath. Now I don’t know why Bathsheba was out there in plane sight of David? Is there no shower curtains in the baths around that time? Is it an open bathroom? The Bible didn’t go into details, it just says that David saw her. Can’t add anything more to that.
If you still remember the story, David sent for her and they slept together and she got pregnant. David out of guilt, tried to cover up everything by having the husband come home from war, get drunk, and sleep with her, but that didn’t work. So he had Joab to put him in the roughest part of the battle so he could get killed. And after Uriah was killed in battle, David moved Bathsheba into his home and made her his wife. David lost his joy because he sinned. 

Psalm 51:1-4
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your loving kindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight--
That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.

It was only after David was confronted with his sin that David repented, therefore writing this Psalm. And David is no different than you and I because there are some sins in our lives that we know we have, yet they have gone unrepented because there’s no Nathan in our lives to confront us. We don’t need a prophet to point out our sins, we have the Holy Spirit to convict when needed. David wrote this Psalm to repent, but it is also here to remind us of the need to repent and get right with God. It is hard to bring back that joy, if we are not right with the One who gave us that joy.

David gives us a good model to look at in this Psalms when it comes to repentance. This is one of the Psalms that can teach us patterns and structures, how we should know when we confess and repent. Let us look at three things about Our previous verse of Psalm 51:10-12. Create, Renew, and Restore today.

Psalm 51:10-12 ( Short Version )
“Create in me a clean heart”, “Renew a steadfast spirit within me”. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.

David prays, Lord Create, “Create in me a clean heart”. I have to admit I was a little confused when I read this verse,as to what David meant when he prays “Create in me a clean heart.” After all David was a man… that was said to be a man after God’s own heart so why would he need the Lord to Create in him a clean heart. In the dictionary, “create” means= to bring into being. Which now makes a lot of sense when we were saved, we had to be born again, with a new heart. Of course having said that, it does not mean that with this new life, this new heart, we would not sin again. Just like David we will fail at times, and that is when we need this prayer.

David didn’t say Lord just patch up my old heart, instead he said Lord cut off the old me and create in me, a new me. Lord generate in me, Lord Produce in me, Lord Construct in me a clean heart! 

If we are going to be the people that God is calling us to be, we need to ask God to replace the old heart with the new heart so that our old worldly wisdom becomes heavenly wisdom, old carnal love becomes spiritual love, old fears, becomes Christian fear, and those old works, become new sanctified works.

Next David prays, Lord Renew “and Renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Remember… David is hurting inside when he writes this. He is literally in mourning after Nathan exposes him. So his spirit is broken, and realizing this, David knew the only way he could continue to run this race was if the Lord renewed a “right Spirit” within him.

David prayed “Renew.” This was different than his previous request for the Lord to Create. However, once again David admits he is missing something when he asked Lord renew. And I guess what I like most about David in this Psalm is that he recognizes what’s wrong with him. Why am I not in the right place with my Lord? In this case his spirit needed a new charge. His spiritual walk was low because of sin, and joy was hard to find. In other words, he was asking the Lord to take what was already in him and refurbish it. Take what was already in him and renovate it. Take what was already in him and repair it. Because it has been broken. A lot of us need to pray that same prayer. Lord, restore my spirit, Lord mend my spirit, Lord make good my spirit. Because if we don’t, we… like David will have a hard time finding joy.

And yes, of course, there will be that time that we will be too blind, too stubborn to see our faults, and do the next mistake possible, blame someone else. Or like David come up with a clever plan to hide our mistakes. Conviction has to come in, and we need to cry out like David and say, Lord I’m tired of having the wrong spirit, renew a steadfast spirit in me”. David is saying, Lord renew in me a spirit that acts and exercises the same qualities of your Spirit. Renew in me a spirit of uprightness. Renew in me a spirit of integrity. Renew in me a spirit of obedience. Renew in me a spirit free from the temptations of sin, and its snares. Renew in me a spirit of Love. Renew in me a spirit of Joy. Renew in me a spirit of peace. Give me a spirit that is fixed,on trusting the Lord.

Now we come to the last part, 1st prayer Create, 2nd Renew, Lastly Restore. Let us see in this text,  David’s request for the Lord to restore. “Restore to me the joy of my salvation”,And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. No one will ever recover their lost joy until there is a request for its return. David knew his joy was gone when he committed that sin. He didn’t deny the reality of his conditions. However, at the same time, David would have never asked God to restore his joy if he did not believe that God would be able do it. 

David didn’t ask, for just any joy. He asked for the joy of his salvation. Lets review what we have heard so far. You remember we talked about being happy earlier and how temporary it is.
Let us look at this in full circle, so you can see how blessed we really are.Let us talk about salvation for a minute? David said the Joy of his salvation. You need to know that your salvation is something to have joy about. Your salvation is something that is eternal. Salvation is a sure thing. Salvation can never fail because it’s founded and built upon an everlasting God. And God’s foundation is secured by His grace that can never be removed. And all of that is now completely wrapped up and shaped in Christ. But it doesn’t stop there because Christ took all of that and applied it in His Spirit. And all who believe in and serve Christ, are heirs to that same Spirit. And since we are heirs to it, we can now rejoice about our salvation.

And after the Lord has restored your joy, He does not just leave you there alone, but “uphold me by Your generous Spirit” We cannot fully praise Him with just our spirit. Our spirit t is ready to fall. Our spirit alone is drawn to sin and despair.”uphold me by Your generous Spirit” , because my spirit is not enough. If you leave me to myself, I may walk for a ways, but I might get a little weary. If you leave me to myself, I may run for a little while, but I will surely get tired and faint. We cannot praise right with our spirit alone. We can’t worship in “Spirit and in Truth” . Our spirit alone will put us in bondage. Our spirit alone will be defeated. 

We all know that when it comes to the serious…hard things in this life, and especially when we’re dealing with sin. We cannot face them alone. When the Lord upholds me, I’ll be able to run this race. If the Lord upholds me, I’ll be able to break the chains of tradition. If the Lord upholds me, I’ll be able to stand against my enemies. When the Lord upholds you an i, with His generous Spirit, our worship won’t end today, we’ll be able to worship Him tomorrow. We’ll be able to praise Him on Tuesday. We’ll be able to exalt Him on Wednesday. We’ll be able to honor Him on Thursday. We’ll be able to adore Him on Friday. We’ll be able to give Him reverence on Saturday. And when we come back here on Sunday, it won’t be hard for us tell of His goodness, because all week long, His generous Spirit was with us. And along with that, the joy of our salvation.

David made a mistake, and yes it came with a price, but God is a faithful and just God. David was forgiven. Here’s the verse…

2 Samuel 12:13-14
12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’”
13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” 

Not only will Gods Spirit keep you and I… I’m glad, that the Spirit of God is a Generous Spirit. Everybody in here knows that before Jesus came into our lives, we use to face the storms alone, tossed around like a ship without a sail. Before Jesus, we felt like our soul was locked up in a prison chained to sin. But since Jesus came into our lives, we don’t have to face the storms alone. Since Jesus came into our life, He’s given our soul freedom, because I hear Him saying this verse…
                            
John 8:36
Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed

I am so grateful, that one day at Calvary, Jesus set me free. Aren’t you grateful that Jesus set you free? And I’m glad, that if I ask Him to Create in me a clean heart, He’ll do it. I’m glad, that if I ask Him to renew in me a right spirit, He’ll do it. I’m glad, that if I ask Him to restore my joy, He’ll do it. 
Listen…we have all made mistakes in the past. And Jesus paid for it all on the cross. There was probably a time in your life where you left the Good Shepherds side, and you know in your heart that something was missing. The world alone may have given you moments of happiness. But the kind of happiness that ends. Gods joy is eternal!

                             Lastly:

John 15:9-11
Love and Joy Perfected
9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 

If you are here tonight, and for some reason, whatever it may be, you are having a hard time finding your joy. Then its time to pray that same prayer that David prayed…

Psalm 51:10-12
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

In Jesus name!!!