Psalm 51:1-13 What Do the Guilty Need? Notice the superscription: 1. In doing some recent study, I learned that many consider these notes as inspired. Some do not so obviously there is some question about it, but in studying the issue some for myself, I have learned some things. 2. The extra notes are mentioned in the most ancient commentaries that we possess, indicating that if they were not given by the penman whom God used to write out the psalm, they were added very shortly thereafter. 3. In the Hebrew Bible, unless the superscription is only one or two words, it is included as the first verse. That means our Bible would be one verse off in counting the verses from the Hebrew Bible. All of this relates only to the book of Psalms. The superscriptions in the other books of the Bible are known to have been added. With that history in mind, this chapters superscription says that this psalm was written by King David after Nathan confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba. This, then, would be a psalm of Davids repentance. David had committed many sins as a result of his encounter with Bathsheba. 1. He had lusted. 2. He had abused his authority. 3. He had committed adultery. 4. He betrayed a friend, a comrade, and a man under his authority. 5. He lied and attempted a cover-up. 6. He got a man drunk. 7. And he had a man killed. Now, David wanted fellowship restored with God. Can he get it? Yes. Thank God that he can. Thank God that we can too. The next question is, "What is needed to get it?" You and I ask for forgiveness and God gives it, but what do we need that forgiveness be granted unto us? I am not certain why, perhaps it is because David is so grieved, perhaps it is because David spend much time contemplating just how wicked he had been; regardless of why David does so, he actually refers to many of the elements that God provides to us when He forgives us. Lets note them. I. \\#1\\ MERCY OF GOD. "Have mercy upon me, O God" A. What is mercy? 1. Mercy is Gods unmerited favor, but it is more. a. In that statement, we are saying that mercy is underserved. b. There is nothing we can do to deserve mercy. c. Anytime mercy is granted, is being done so due to the merit of another. d. That other is Jesus Christ. e. It is fully accurate to ask God to give you mercy on the grounds of what Jesus Christ has done. f. In fact, it is the only grounds by which God will ever grant mercy. 2. Mercy is God holding back any part of our deserved punishment. a. David was asking that God not punish him for his sin. (1) David was the giver of justice in Israel. (2) He was the chief judge who rendered to all their due for their actions. (3) David knew what he would do to a man who had committed these crimes against another. (4) He understood what he deserved. (5) He was asking that God not give him what he deserved. (6) When one recognizes his sin, this is as good as any place to start. (7) If one does not secure mercy quickly, he might not be around to ask for anything else. b. Man sometimes has a difficult time understanding just how merciful God is. (1) God will not, but if God gave a drop of water to a soul being tormented in hell, that would be mercy. (a) You say, "But he is still in hell." (b) Yes, but if God gave him a drop of water, God would be holding back a portion of the judgment the sinner deserved. (2) We dont want God to withhold part of the punishment. We want Him to hold it all back. (a) So if we get drunk and have an automobile accident, we dont see Gods mercy. i. We dont see that God spared our wretched life. ii We only see that we lost our car. (b) If we die at 50, we dont see that God was merciful at giving us 50 years. We see God denied us the 10 or 20. (3) May I tell you that if you have life and are not in hell, God has been merciful to you today. c. David did not get all of the mercy that he probably wanted. (1) God will spare Davids life, but God declares that the sword of justice would never depart from Davids house. (2) One daughter raped by a brother; one brother killed by a brother; one son lead a revolt against David; one son tried to steal the throne from a brother (twice), which caused one son to execute the other for treason. (3) God was merciful to David but it did not erase the whole debt. (a) There is warning there. (b) Do not presume upon the mercy of God to remove all you punishment. (c) Complete forgiveness is promised but complete mercy is not. (d) Many have been forgiven but they still must wear the scars of a sinful life. B. David knew that he needed Gods mercy. 1. He had been very, very wicked. a. Being a servant of God, he knew how sinful his actions were. b. Being blessed with wives, David knew taking anothers wife was wrong. c. Being blessed with men like Uriah who would die to defend David, he knew he was betraying a friend. 2. David knew if God did not give him mercy, he would pay a terrible price. a. He determined that there would be no more attempts to hide his sins. b. There would be no more attempts to justify his wrong. c. He was guilty and would simply pour himself out on the undeserved mercy of God and hope that God will grant him enough mercy to continue some form of life! II. \\#2\\ CLEANSING FROM SIN. "Wash me thoroughly and cleanse me from my sin" A. David felt the dirt of his sin. 1. It clung to him like filth. a. He saw the stain of Uriahs blood on his hands. b. He smelled the odor of adultery on his bed. c. He felt the grit of betrayal under his bare feet as he walked through the halls of the palace. 2. Perhaps sins filth cannot be adequately explained, but it can be felt. a. It is like walking on a sticky floor. b. You may not see the substance but you know something dirty is beneath you. 3. This is what David felt polluted, defiled, dirty. a. He sensed it with his emotions, with his senses. b. The Bible word is unclean. B. In the Old Testament, when something was unclean, they would wash it. 1. Of course, water has its limits. a. You can only wash the outside of a thing with water. b. We all understand that water cannot remove sin, spiritual uncleanness, but that is what God commanded as a outward manifestation of what God was doing on the inside for us. 2. David was asking for that washing. C. In the New Testament, water has been recognized as insufficient even for the cleansing of sin. 1Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1. It is the blood of Jesus that cleanses that filthy stain. Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 2. We can be rewashed in that blood anytime we have sinned by simply asking God to do so. 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. III. \\#7\\ PURGED FROM GUILT. "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall he clean" A. As the outward vessel needs to be washed of sin, so the inner man needs to be purged of it. 1. This is pretty much the same thought as the last only to a different area of the sinner. 2. Hyssop was a brush-like plant that was used to apply the blood of the Passover lambs to the door posts. Exodus 12:22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. 3. The outward vessel can be washed, but the inner man is more difficult to reach. 4. A reaching tool must be used to get the blood where it needs to be applied. B. Oh, how difficult it is to purge the soul of the guilt and shame that accompanies our sin. 1. To this day, I shutter and cringe at the some of the sins I have committed. a. Forgiven? Oh, yes. I know that I am forgiven. b. However, I still feel the regret of hurting others, of being so callused, so difficult, so arrogant. c. I quickly remind myself of the applied blood applied to my account and refuse the devil the pleasure of burning those images upon my mind, but I know they will come again. 2. How I do understand those who go mad with the guilt of their past. a. Peter wrestled with his denials of Christ, but he had the hyssop dipped in blood and it removed his condemnation. b. Judas likewise wrestle was his actions, but he never found the hyssop to place the blood in that hard to reach spot, the guilt spot of the soul. C. David had cause to feel guilty. 1. He had destroyed a daughter in Israels purity, broken a home, taken a life, involved his military general in complicity of murder. 2. He could have gone mad, but he was asking God to purge his soul of that guilt. 3. What a blessing that when we sin, God does not just wash us of the filth, he purges us of the guilt. IV. \\#10\\ REGENERATION OF HEART. "Create in me a clean heart, O God" A. Here David turned from the effects of his sin to the cause of it. 1. David began to contemplate what lead him to commit these sins. 2. The effect of sin is bad. a. It is condemning in its very nature. b. However, if we do not find out what is wrong on our inside that allows us to commit such sins, regardless of how bad we feel, we will do it again. 3. So Davids eyes turned inward. B. David saw that he had a corrupt heart. 1. Jesus told us that our external actions are merely a symptom of our internal heart. Mt 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 2. David, upon questioning how a man of God could turn so far to the wrong, saw that his heart was more corrupt that his life! 3. Indeed, it was so corrupted that neither a washing nor a purging would do it any good. 4. This heart must be replaced with a new heart, one that loves God more perfectly! C. Here is where true repentance should lead us. 1. A true Christian does not just want the penalty of sin removed, or the dirt of sin washed off of his life, or the guilt of sin purged from his heart. 2. He wants to be made into a new creature that will not want to do those kinds of deviant deeds again! D. Salvation puts a new heart within us, but walking right keeps the arteries clean. 1. I think David was Gods, but his heart needed something more. 2. He lived in that Old Testament dispensation and was lacking some things. 3. I think was David was asking for was what we got when the Holy Ghost moved into us. 4. A constant Source to battle the corruption that remains within us all. V. \\#10\\ RENEWAL OF SPIRIT. "Renew a right spirit within me." A. The spirit of a man is not the man but it is very important part of a mans makeup. 1. That might not make sense, but I am beginning to believe it is so. 2. We are a soul. 3. We have a spiritual dimension so that we can fellowship with God. B. David had damaged his spirit. 1. He had seared it, scared it, hardened it, and beat it down. 2. His spirit had told him what he was doing was wrong, but David put it down and locked it away. 3. Now, his spirit was wounded, broken like the spirit of an animal who had been abused. 4. In that condition, it would not be able to keep him from sin again. 5. Some of you have had your spirit beaten down. a. There have been days when you despaired to live. b. Why? Was something wrong with your eternal soul? c. No, you spirit was broken. d. Nothing influences your soul more than your spirit. C. David wanted a revival of his spirit. 1. He wanted the bleeding wounds to be healed and the hardened scars to be removed. 2. He wanted his spirit to be empower and emboldened again. 3. He needed his internal guiding light to be strong to keep him away from lust and evil. 4. In short, David wanted a revival. VI. \\#12\\ RESTORATION OF JOY. "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation" A. If sin could make a person happy, David would the happiest person in the world. He was not. 1. We watched a movie with the young people Friday about a Christian who thought having what his peers had, their sins, their pleasures, would make him happy. In the movie, God gave his a lost persons life for 24 hours. He found out that pleasures of sin were just for a season. They did not produce any real happiness. 2. David had lost his delight in the things of God, and he wanted to get it back. B. It is my belief that God will always give the joy of salvation back to a repentant sinner; however, He may not do it right away. 1. I have seen some who were so quick to take the joy of salvation for granted (myself included) that they gave it away like Esau gave away his birthright. 2. Then, we they repented, I have seen some who wondered if they would ever get back the kind of thrill they once had in Christ. 3. To my knowledge, every person has gotten it back, but some had to wait a long time before they did. C. There is another lesson there. 1. Dont take spiritual blessings for granted. 2. Dont give away what you cannot afford to lose. I count six things in this text that we assume in our forgiveness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Psalm 51:1-13 What Do the Guilty Need? Notice the superscription: 1. In doing some recent study, I learned that many consider these notes as inspired. Some do not so obviously there is some question about it, but in studying the issue some for myself, I have learned some things. 2. The extra notes are mentioned … Continue reading “Psalm 51:1-13 – What Do the Guilty Need? – Bible study”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}