Psalm 51 1-4

A Heartfelt Plea for Mercy

Bible Passage: Psalm 51:1-4

This is a Psalm of David

My Bible says this Psalm 51 is a Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.

A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Remember the story of David staying at Jerusalem when all the kings went out to war? 2 Sam 11:1

This story involved adultery with Bathsheba

And murder of one of David’s soldier’s, Uriah, the Hittite.

Nathan, the prophet, came to David with a story that infuriated David.

Nathan tells David He is the man

His sin with Bathsheba and Uriah was known to God.

It is this moment we realize the reason this man,

a broken man,

a sinful man,

would be called a man after God’s own heart.

It was this man who wrote Psalm 51 illustrating what to do when you realize you have fallen prey to temptation and have chosen sin.

This man had a Heartfelt reason to Plea For Mercy

Psalm 51:1–4 NASB 95

1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.

Pray

When we sin and realize we have sinned our response has to be abject humility

1. We must Plea for Mercy

Psalm 51:1 NASB 95

1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.

David sought God’s grace

Be gracious to me, According to Your lovingkindness

David did not appeal to God because David thought he deserved forgiveness.

David appealed to God’s grace and lovingkindness.

grace-unmerited favor

David understood God’s love for him.

David appealed to God’s great compassion

He asked that his transgressions be blotted out.

This appeal to God’s grace and compassion reveals a heart that is not hardened.

A heart that is not accustomed to telling God no.

But a heart that listens when God condemns sinful action.

A heart that loves God more than even physical pleasure.

Do you remember how you wanted your child to respond to your correction?

We wanted that child to be full of remorse,

To see the error of his ways

To truly apologize for the offense

To do whatever was necessary to reconcile with the offended party.

Do you or I have a heart like that?

Do you and I have a heart like David’s?

When alerted to sin do we immediately turn to God’s grace and compassion?

Do we humble ourselves and repent of this sin, this transgression of God’s law?

David did not look back to his past successes.

He instead turned to the God he had come to know as gracious and compassionate.

Do you know a God whose grace and compassion have been at work in your life?

When sin enters our lives understand the desperate situation we are in.

A situation that only God can rectify.

I was in such a situation only momentarily that I would like to tell you about.

One of the members’ of our church asked me to go see her son who was in jail.

I got permission and went to visit this man in jail.

When I finished the visit, I notified the jailer and exited through a locked door.

I entered a long hallway and it was during this walk down the hallway that I remembered.

On the way into the jail someone was with me who used her radio to ask the guard to open the door.

Both doors on each end of the hallway were locked.

I could not open either door and I did not know if anyone would open the other door for me.

For a moment I panicked

Until I heard the lock release and the door open.

The relief I felt was amazing.

I could not get myself out of that locked hall.

Neither can I get myself out of the sin I have committed.

Only God can do that.

2. We must be Purified from Sin

Psalm 51:2 NASB 95

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin.

After appealing to God’s grace and compassion.

David asked for God to work in his life.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

David takes responsibility for his sin.

It was his iniquity, evil, corruption, sin.

He did not blame anyone else.

He took responsibility for His action.

He appealed to the one whom he had dishonored with his sin.

Cleanse me from my sin!

David understood how God saw sin.

It is not a thing to be hidden or overlooked.

Sin drives a wedge between you and God.

The longer you go without acknowledging sin the greater the divide comes between you and God.

It is the same as in human relationships.

Ephesians 4:26–27 NASB 95

26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.

Paul is quoting Ps 4:4

Notice why sin must be rectified soon?

It gives the devil opportunity.

Bitterness is never far behind anger.

Paul told his readers to rectify what makes you angry soon so that the relationship could be restored.

David asked God to wash him of his iniquity and to cleanse him from sin.

Only God can clean us up.

So many times we think we can clean ourselves.

That is pure religion.

Christianity is trusting God to do what only He can do.

3. We must be Aware of our Position

Psalm 51:3 NASB 95

3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.

When I was a child, I guess I learned to study people.

I noticed that the kids who were most popular were the ones who could talk themselves out of trouble.

Usually they lied.

But always they blamed something or someone else for their misdeed.

Whatever worked was always the answer.

Getting away with wrong activity was the result.

Learning a lesson and never doing it again was rarely realized.

David understood the wrong he had done to God.

What we witness here is the result of a man realizing the depth of his harm upon God.

This was not about getting away with it.

This was about absolute contrition, remorse.

He understood the full weight of his sin in God’s world.

Here was a man chosen by God to lead God’s people and look at what he had done.

He committed adultery

He tried to hide the evidence by ordering a man’s death.

But the worst of all was his betrayal of the call God made upon his life.

The call to lead God’s people in the ways of God.

David did not make excuses.

As soon as he realized what he had done.

He fell to his knees and repented in prayer.

We see that prayer here.

Psalm 51:1–3 NASB 95

1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.

4. We then Proclaim Sin’s Offense

Psalm 51:4 NASB 95

4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.

Did David sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? Yes

But his most glaring sin was against God.

Clearly David had a profound sense of God.

Remember what drove David to fight Goliath?

It was Goliath demeaning or blaspheming God that caused him to desire a fight with this uncircumcised Philistine.

Yet here he was himself denigrating, demeaning, God with his own illegitimate activities.

Psalm 51:4 “4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.”

He did not try to lessen his offenses.

I have sinned

I have done evil in your sight.

I deserve whatever you do to me.

Because you are blameless and justified in whatever you choose.

I hope you and I see sin like David does.

It is wrong and we are at the mercy of God.

Sin is not a toy to be played with.

It is evil and destructive.

It tears our relationship with God to shreds.

It will not separate us from God

But it will hinder God’s ability to use us as planned.

My point is this,

When you sin, realize who you have sinned against.

We just celebrated the resurrection.

We rehearsed the horrible death of Jesus on the cross.

When we sin it is like driving another nail into his horribly mutilated body.

It is like throwing sand in the face of the man who loves us most or taking a knife and forcing Him to endure more pain.

Conclusion

This opening paragraph of Ps 51 communicates how horrible sin is and who sin always affects.

I believe everyone of us sin.

But do we, including me, ever consider how horrible sin is to God.

The one who gave His only son that we might live with Him forever.

This beautiful gift of forgiveness is thrown back in God’s face every time we choose to sin.

I don’t have time to pray this morning-putting others gods before me.

This is important work that I do and when we put that work before God we have created a golden image that is before God.

When I lust after something that doesn’t belong to me I have chosen it over the God who died for me.

No, we cannot undo those sins.

We cannot do enough good to overcome those sins.

Only God’s perfect sacrifice can remove those sins from me.

Have you chosen to accept the sacrifice of Jesus for your sin?

Or are you still depending on yourself to find a way back?

That is arrogance, defiance and rejection of the one who truly loves you.

Understand you cannot come to God alone.

You must surrender your desires, in abject humility admit you can do nothing to save yourself.

Then accept the free gift God has given you

Trust Him

Follow Him

316 Jesus is tenderly calling

1.    Jesus is tenderly calling thee home, Calling today, calling today; Why from the sunshine of love wilt thou roam Farther and farther away?

Refrain: Calling today, Calling today; Jesus is calling, Is tenderly calling today.

2.    Jesus is calling the weary to rest, Calling today, calling today; Bring Him thy burden and thou shalt be blest; He will not turn thee away. (Refrain)

3.    Jesus is waiting; O come to Him now, Waiting today, waiting today; Come with thy sins; at His feet lowly bow; Come, and no longer delay. (Refrain)

4.    Jesus is pleading; O list to His voice, Hear Him today, hear Him today; They who believe on His name shall rejoice; Quickly arise and away. (Refrain)

Refrain: Calling today, Calling today; Jesus is calling, Is tenderly calling today.