These are the notes from a sermon I preached on Psalm 51 back in 2014. I know this is a rather long post for me but at least it is not a word for word transcript - I don't have the introduction and I have deleted some of the cues for illustrations. Anyway, I called it The Autobiography of a Rescued Sinner. I hope you find encouragement here.
<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.> [Introduction found in the KJV, which sets the scene]
There are those who think that people like David have the best of both worlds - they get both sin and God. I want to go through the Psalm and see what happens when you fall into sin
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
I believe “mercy” is the sweetest word in the Bible. I know about grace and love, and no one can deny their importance, but mercy is the sweetest word.
How often do you read, "Have grace upon me, O Lord?" Never. How many Psalms begin, "Love me, O Lord"? None.
The Psalms are full of this cry, "Have mercy upon me, O LORD"; and the Gospels are full of encounters like this: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David."
Is this not our instinctive heart cry when we are in danger or distress, Have mercy on me?
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
Words for sin in this Psalm:
sin - miss the mark, fall short
transgression - violate a specific command
iniquity - twisted, perverse
Four categories of sin:
1) Sin that is simple disobedience or rebellion.
2) Then there is sin that becomes a habit and we have to learn a new habit to stop.
3) There is also a deeper kind of sin, a more pernicious kind of sin, one that has a hook or a barb. It grabs something in you, it hides and thrives on this inner and sometimes secret lust or hurt and then shows up in your life. This kind of sin is very difficult to stop. The root is me. I want to stop, I try to stop, but I am sucked into it again and again.
4) A fourth category of sin is the kind that comes with, is the result of, or results in some sort of spiritual oppression and enslavement.
wash me throughly
church tablecloths - We used to have two sets of tablecloths, one set was white and the other was blue. After a fellowship dinner I took them home to wash. I washed both sets together and *gasp* the white ones came out blue!! I knew the white set had been homemade by C____ and I was mortified. I immediately washed the white set again, this time with bleach. Gladness, joy, relief - they were white again! I had washed them throughly (thoroughly). Sin leaves a stain and we need the Lord to wash us throughly.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions:
and my sin is ever before me.
I acknowledge my sin, I confess my sin. I did it. It was 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.
David was the king. In our day we say, "No one is above the law." Well, in David’s day he was the law. But not even he was above the law of God.
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.
I have a deep rooted problem with sin. The one thing You want, truth in the inward parts, I have trouble with.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
One of the consequences of sin - it makes you dirty…
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness;
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Another consequence of sin - loss of joy and gladness
There is the pleasure of sin for a season. It feels good for the moment but then there is the loss of gladness. Sin is costly.
Bones which you have broken – not literally. This is describing conviction.
9 Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all mine iniquities.
Yet another consequence - Sin comes between you and God, like a cloud covering the sun.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
See what sin does to the heart? "My spirit was inclined to You and to Your ways, now I am drifting away from you."
11 Cast me not away from thy presence;
and take not thy holy spirit from me.
I don’t want to get distracted by this, so we will just say, when you sin your sense of the presence of God is affected. This is a serious consequence.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;
and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Earlier he had asked for a restoration of joy and gladness, now he is specific, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Because of his sin he lost joy and gladness in general, and the joy of salvation specifically. What a price we pay when we fall into sin: you get dirty, you lose joy and gladness, you lose the joy of his salvation, there is a cloud between you and God, you are drawn away from God, and your sense of the presence of God is lost or greatly diminished. He most definitely did not have the best of both worlds.
13 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.
He is speaking here of the restoration that comes with forgiveness. "Forgive me, wash me, create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit" and I will praise you and teach others about the dangers of sin and the joy of your rescue."
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.
What is a contrite heart? A heart that feels its sin and acknowledges it.
Here is the point of the Psalm: David's hope is not himself. Not his righteousness; not his goodness; not in his confession; not even his contrition. It is God. His mercy. His hope, his only hope, is that God in His mercy does not despise a contrite heart.
We can suppose that his prayer was answered and his sin forgiven, but we need to be sure. And we can be. Turn to Psalm 32 (I don't know why it doesn't follow this psalm, but it is considered to be what he wrote after he wrote 51 and God met him):
1 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. Selah.
Amen! Hallelujah!
Why preach this Psalm?
1. THIS is what sin does. In everyone. Every time.
2. God wants to rescue sinners
3. THIS is how a sinner is rescued.
How do we apply this to people we know who have fallen into sin?
We need to PRAY for them
We need to be PATIENT with them
We need to be PREPARED to welcome them back
Here is the first line of a hymn every rescued sinner can sing:
I came to Jesus, weary, worn, and sad.
He took my sins away, He took my sins away.
And now His love has made my heart so glad,
He took my sins away.
He took my sins away, He took my sins away,
And keeps me singing every day!
I’m so glad He took my sins away,
He took my sins away.
He Took My Sins Away
Words & Music: Margaret J. Harris
I shall take away their sins. Romans 11:27
For a fuller commentary on this Psalm I invite you to go here.
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