Summer Psalms #6: Sin's Scavenging, Forgiveness's Fullss Text: Psalms 51

 

Summer Psalms #6: Sin
Text: Psalms 90

Background

The Penitential Psalms

There are a group of Psalms labeled the “Penitential Psalms.” A glance at the first few verses of each Psalm will tell you why they are called the Penitential Psalms.

Psalms 6:1-2 O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. 2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak:

Psalms 32:1-2 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

Psalms 38:4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

Psalms 102:1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.

Psalms 130:3-4 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

Psalms 143:1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.

Psalm 51, our psalm today, is considered the greatest of the Penitent Psalms. Psalm 51 is about the personal consequences of sin and the power of confession in the life of a believer.

It can be applied to a lost person but make no mistake this is a Psalm written by someone who is not just coming to God but someone who has known the joy of salvation. He is intimately familiar with God and he is pleading for God’s presence to once again be real in his life. It is a prayer for forgiveness and its lessons should be understood by every child of God lest we also lose the joy of our salvation.

The Title to the Psalm is ancient, though it probably wasn’t written by David when he wrote the Psalm. According to that title this psalm was written when David was confronted by Nathan the prophet after David’s adultery with Bathsheba and covering up that adultery by arranging the killing of Uriah her husband.

We are as familiar with this terrible sin of David as we are the great battle he won over Goliath. Together they show the heights and depths of David’s following God. It is interesting that David didn’t write a Psalm about his victory on the battlefield, but he did write a powerful one about his sin in the bedchamber.

David begins by crying out to God for mercy and cleansing then confessing his sin before God.

The Confession of Sin – Psalm 51:1-6

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

David’s Plea

David’s Confession

David pleads with God for mercy because of God’s lovingkindness and because of the multitude of tender mercies a blotting out of his transgressions. He asks God to wash him throughly from iniquity and to cleanse him from his sin.

The Hebrew word for mercy is חָנַן ḥânan; and in its basic form it means to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior. David is asking God to bend down, to condescend, to show mercy.

David knows that God’s mercy is not deserved, especially after his heinous sin, it can only be appealed to because of God’s lovingkindness. The word means exactly what it says, God is loving and God is kind. It is one of his attributes, one of his characteristics. It is one of the revelations of God. In the New Testament the equivalent of this word would be grace.

Paul said it this way in Ephesians 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

The second part of David’s plea to God is in vs. 2.

He asks God to thoroughly wash away his iniquity and to cleanse him from his sin.

In these first two verses David uses three word for sin as though one little three letter word could never be enough to confess what he has done.

The word transgression is פֶּשַׁע p̱eša‘; it means a revolt, a rebellion, a trespass. Iniquity is ‘avown aw-vone; and it means perversity, moral evil, a fault. And the little three letter word sin is חַטָּאָה ḥaṭâ’â; and it means an offence against God.

This is what David has done, he has rebelled against God, he has left morality for immorality and his has offended the God he love and who loved him.

And because of his sin, his iniquity his transgression he pleads, “Oh God wash me and cleanse me from the stains of my sin. David also uses three words for forgiveness: “blot out” is mahah and it pictures the crossing out of a debt in the account book; The word “wash” is kavas; and it conveys the idea of washing out a dirty stain in a garment. The word “cleanse” is taher and it depicts sin as a moral leprosy. And like leprosy the purification required the direct pronouncement of God.

The third part of David’s plea is his acknowledgment of his sin in vs. 4-6. Here is his the depths of his confession.

He confesses, “I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

He knows that as great as his offense was against Bathsheba and Uriah, it is God that above all others he must confess, “4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest,
and be clear when thou judgest.”

He knows that he was, “5 shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

And he acknowledges how far his sin removed him from God’s purpose in his life, “6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” But that purpose was blocked, it was lost because of David’s sin.

Confession of Our Sin

In these opening verses there is more truth than I can apply to us today. From this first emotional, spiritual, heart-broken plea of David’s we can hear and see our need for forgiveness from God and the necessity of voicing that plea.

John said in his first epistle, 1 John 1:9 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He wrote that to believers. Believers just likd David, just like himself, just like us.

The life of a believer, the life of a Christian cannot be lived as it should be without confession and repentance of sin, our sin, my sin. I must seek God’s forgiveness because of his grace, acknowledge my sin in all its depths and I must seek God’s cleansing of that sin from my life. “Wash me throughly from my iniquity.”

And like David we must realize how far our sin has removed us, hindered us, obstructed us from God’s purpose in our lives. We can’t be what God created and designed us to be, if there is unconfessed and unrepentant sin in our lives. We can’t be that father, mother, child, pastor, pastor’s wife, church member, soul winner or even the child of God that He wants me to be, if I don’t confess my sins and ask God to cleanse me, every day, every time, every instance.

David was the greatest King God in his grace put upon the throne of Israel and his sin was the darkest against the grace of God. Do we think somehow that we will not sin against that same God of grace? Sin is a part of our life even as children of God, confession and cleansing must also be part of our life.

David’s confesses his sin and asks to be cleaned of that sin and that thought brings him to write the next part of this Psalm, vs. 7-12. …

The Cry for Restoration – Psalm 51:7-12

Purge 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; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

David’s Desire

David asks God to restore the relationship that he once shared with God. He has not lost that relationship but he has lost the joy and the blessings from it. So he cried out for restoration.

He asks to be purged with hyssop and then he will be clean, to be washed that he might be once again “whiter than snow.”

Hyssop is a small leafy shrub that was used in the purification of the leper and in removing the defilement resulting from contact with a dead body.

David purposely choice this phrasing because of what he sought from God. David says, I am like a leper longing for his soul to be restored to purness, like white snow, a like a defiled person being restored to my family.

By looking at what David asks God to restore we can see how much he had lost through his unconfessed sin.

He asks God to restore his spiritual hearing, “make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.”

In vs. 10 he asks for God to, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

In vs. 11 he asks for God to restore his fellowship, “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.”

In vs. 12 We hear the real loss David felt, not his relationship with God, not his salvation through God, but he ask in vs. 12 for God to, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”

He had lost his spiritual awareness, his purity, his fellowship and more than all else he had lost the joy of his salvation.

It is thought that God gave David over a year to confess and repent, but he did not until Nathan confronted him with the story of the stolen and slaughtered lamb. When Nathan at the end of that story pointed his finger at the King and said, “Thou art the Man” David knew his sin was not hidden and he must have realized how much he had lost, how much is refusal to confess and acknowledge his sin had cost him.

Unconfessed Sin’s Cost

When you consider all that David lost and what his sin had cost him you can’t hep but think what does sin cost us?

If you are not a child of God then sin costs you eternal life. Your immortal soul will spend eternity in the eternal punishment of Hell. That is a cost far to high for any sane person to think it was worth it to exclude God and his love from my earthly life.

But even the believer pays a price for unconfessed and unrepentant sin and though it is not an eternal price we pay, it is still a terrible loss.

Like David we lose joy. We lose gladness, we lose the purity that comes from forgiveness, we lose the sense of our spirit being right with God. We lose fellowship with God, we lose the conviction and direction of the Holy Spirit.

We lose the joy of our salvation. And that is too high a cost for trying to hide or ignore my sin.

I remember the first time I felt the “Joy of the Lord” when I walked the aisle and said yes I want Jesus in my life. I have felt it time and time again since then. With every blessing of a newborn child, with every altar call I’ve answered, with every soul I seen accept Jesus as their savior.

Peter used a phrase to describe our joy of salvation in 1 Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

What a beautiful phrase, “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” That is so good they should write a song about it. Oh, wait they have.

Joy Unspeakable

1 I have found His grace is all complete;
He supplieth every need.
While I sit and learn at Jesus’ feet,
I am free, yes, free indeed.

I have found the joy no tongue can tell,
How its waves of glory roll!
It is like a great o’erflowing well,
Springing up within my soul.

Refrain: It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Full of glory, full of glory.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory;
O the half has never yet been told!

That is what David had lost and that he so earnestly now desired to be restored. Don’t let sin lurk in your life, unconfessed and unacknowledged because it is costing you dearly. Don’t wait until, God send a Nathan to point his finger into the face of your soul and say, “You are the one.” Ask God to restore the joy of my salvation.

David has dealt with a lot, he has confessed a lot and he has asked God for a lot to be restored through His forgiveness and yet he has not finished his Psalm. What could be left? David now come to…

The Commitment of Rededication – Psalm 51:13-19

Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

David’s Vow

After David has given his confession, asked for cleansing and sought restoration of his walk with God and the blessings that come from that walk, he has one more action he must take and that is to make a vow, a commitment to God.

He says when he is forgiven and restored then he will do these things in response and thanksgiving for what God has done in forgiving and restoring him.

He vows to teach other sinner the ways of God. So that they might be converted to God.

If God will deliver him from guilty of shedding another’s blood. Then David will be able to sing aloud of God’s righteousness.

He prays, 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

Then he gives the reason for his praise in vs. 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.  17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

David began and now he ends with the same understanding of God and his forgiveness of sin. It is not what David can do.

There is no religious act, no sacrifice or burnt offering he can bring that will grant God’s forgiveness. Perhaps, David had been trying for over a year to go through the rituals, the trappings of religion in order to appease God, but his guilt before God remained and his joy was gone.

But now he understands and wants to tell others, to tell us through Psalm 51, this is what God responds to, this is the person God sees, this is the only sacrifice He will accept, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

Conclusion

Psalms 32 is thought to be part of the fulfillment of David’s vow here in Psalms 51. Listen to one last time to the heart of David upon finding forgiveness with His God,

Psalms 32:1-5 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.  5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.

There have been many times in my life that I’ve kept silent about my sin. Oh, I knew I wasn’t hiding it from God, but I was trying to hide it and its affects from myself. But I lost the things that meant the most to me in my relationship with God and my bones waxed old through soul’s roaring for a restoration of the joy of my salvation. Listen to me, listen to David, listen to God don’t wait, don’t keep silent before Him, confess your sin, cry out for restoration and then commit you life to greater service and a closer walk with Him who truly forgives.