It is the faithful, covenantal, unstoppable, always-pursuing, never-ending love of God for the undeserving. Steadfast love - the Hebrew word “checed” - is so rich.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love…Īccording to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions…įirst he appeals to the steadfast love of the LORD. He does not even appeal to a zealous, promise to do better or pay God back. Repentance is appealing to the Love and Mercy of Godĭavid does not appeal to God’s justice (that wouldn’t work). Let’s be humble and bow low before the Lord and his word. And I just want to say before we go further, this may be the missing ingredient to a work of renewal in your heart… and in this church. And fourth, David gladly resolves to obey. Third, David pleads for certain effects of God’s mercy. Second, David is brutally honest about his sin in confession.
First, David appeals to God's love and mercy. So what can David, a man after God’s own heart, teach us about true and genuine repentance? Let’s dive into Psalm 51. He said: “ When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent’, he wanted the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. In fact, Martin Luther said all of life is repentance - turning from and forsaking sin and turning to Christ. Repentance is not something we do once and then we are done. The difference between a converted person and an unconverted person is not that one sins and the other does not, but that the one takes part in his cherished sins against a dreaded God, and the other takes part with a reconciled God against his hated sins.Īnd so, I hope you see this Psalm is for you, it is for me, and helps us to understand what true and genuine repentance is. 19th Century Scottish minister William Arnot wrote, The issue is whether we have made peace with and cherish our sin or hate and forsake it. The issue is not whether Christians sin or not, we do. There are others who know the daily battle against sin - this psalm is for you. There are others who have fallen headlong into egregious sin, and wonder if there is any hope for you, and be forgiven or useful to God again - this Psalm is for you. There are others who think they are too holy or mature or committed to really blow it - this is for you. There are some here (or watching) who have a woefully shallow and inadequate view of our sin and the glory of God’s mercy - this is for you. You might be thinking, what does this have to do with me? This psalm is for someone who has really blown it. For a year he went on like nothing happened, until the prophet Nathan came… and this Psalm is the result of the Lord’s dealing with David’s sin. It’s written by King David, a man after God’s own heart, Bathesheba, adultery and fathered a son, conspired to kill her husband. Psalm 51 comes to us in the form of lament it is a psalm of repentance, of confession.
Psalm 51 brings together the painful reality and depth of sin and the wonder of divine mercy. Spurgeon said, this Psalm is a “ matchless psalm well suited for the individual as well an assembly of the poor in spirit.
#Sermon on clean me and i shall be whiter than snow full#
” A lesser known Protestant Reformer, named Viktor Strigel said of Psalm 51: “ This Psalm is the brightest gem in the whole book, and contains instruction so large, and doctrine so precious, that the tongue of angels could not do justice to the full development ”. Luther once claimed “ there is no other psalm more often sung or prayed in the church.
Athanasius, an early church father, once recommended to Christians that they recite it when they wake up in the middle of the night. One called Psalm 51 the Martyrs psalm.īut they aren’t alone in their adoration of this psalm. If you had one hour to live and you could have one song going through your mind for your comfort and encouragement, what would it be? Over the past few years, I have read several accounts of men and women going to the stake or with their head on the chopping block reciting Psalm 51.
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