Timeless Biblical Truth.
Believers must be completely cleansed from sin if they wish to participate in the worship and service of God.
- The Introductory Cry: Believers are to pray for forgiveness because of God’s gracious nature (1-2).
- Believers may plead to God for mercy because He is gracious (1a-c).
- Believers pray for their sin to be removed (1d-2).
- Confession: Believers need forgiveness because they are sinful (3-6).
- Believers must confess their sin was inexcusable (3-4).
- Believers confess they are sinners from birth and fail to live up to God’s instruction (5-6).
- Petition: Believers desire cleansing and renewal (7-12).
- Believers ask God for cleansing (7-9).
- Believers ask God for renewal for a pure heart (10-12).
- Vow: Believers promise that being forgiven they will participate in the worshipping community (13-19).
- Believers promise to teach others how God treats those who repent with grace (13).
- Believers promise to praise God for His gracious treatment of those who repent (14-15).
- Forgiveness enables believers to worship God with sacrifices offered with contrition in a blessed community (16-19). “What we are in our prayers before God, we are and nothing more.” Robert Murray McCheyne.
Questions for Second Milers
- Read 2 Samuel 11:1-12:15 for a background to this psalm.
- Make a list of David’s requests? Why does David ask for what he has already been granted in 2 Samuel 12:13?
- What else does David request of God beyond simple forgiveness? Why?
- Against whom has David sinned? Why is this true?
- What does David include in what is proper worship?
- Have you ever offered God an excuse instead of an open confession of your sin as inexcusable? Why is a contrite heart important to God and to ourselves?
- This psalm may be useful in your prayer life for confessing your sin.
- Give your own short title to this psalm. C. S. Lewis: The Problem of Pain. Leland Ryken: Words of Delight, 136. Psalm 51 Divine Grace and Human Repentance Believers must be completely cleansed from sin if they wish to participate in the worship and service of God. Questions for Second Milers
- Read 2 Samuel 11:1-12:15 for a background to this psalm.
- Make a list of David’s requests? Why does David ask for what he has already been granted in 2 Samuel 12:13?
- What else does David request of God beyond simple forgiveness? Why?
- Against whom has David sinned? Why is this true?
- What does David include in what is proper worship?
- Have you ever offered God an excuse instead of an open confession of your sin as inexcusable? Why is a contrite heart important to God and to ourselves?
- This psalm may be useful in your prayer life for confessing your sin.
- Give your own short title to this psalm. C. S. Lewis: The Problem of Pain. Leland Ryken: Words of Delight, 136.
“We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boy-hood as if they were no concern of the present speaker’s, and even with laugh-ter. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ.”
“. . . evil can never be undone, but only purged and redeemed.” Dorothy L. Sayers: The Emperor Constantine: A Chronicle.
“Faith is no more than the Word warrants, then the blood of atonement en-courages, than the promise of God deserves.” Charles H. Spurgeon.
“Through all his tragedies and triumphs, the spiritual dimension is never absent from David’s life. When he sins, he recognizes it as sin against God (Ps. 51). When he triumphs, he turns in praise to the God who has given him the vic-tory (Ps. 18). All of this bespeaks of a man for whom all of life is God’s.” Leland Ryken: Words of Delight, 136.
Lanny Tanton is the Pastor at The Bible Church of the Lakes in Horseshoe Bay, Texas – just outside of Marble Falls. Pastor Tanton welcomes you to our website and hopes that you’ll enjoy reading these insightful blog posts. Please contact us if you have further questions!!
