David's Confession of Sin

INTRO

Psalm 51 is one of the best-known psalms. It is a psalm of repentance and of confession. The context of the psalm is David’s sin with Bathsheba and his being confronted by the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 11:26–29; 12:1–20). David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba, and to cover the first sin, David had Uriah killed on the frontline in battle. David thought he got away with his sins. Nathan had the tough job of releasing a word of judgment from God on David with the words, “You are the man! Why then have you despised the command of the Lord by doing what [God] considers evil?” (2 Samuel 12:7–9). David and his entire house suffered consequences from David’s sin. This was the context for Psalm 51 (2 Corinthians 7:10). Our question is, are we coming to God in the right manner? Psalm 51 is a true outline of repentance.

TEACHING

Psalm 51:1-2: : David cried out to God for mercy, something he did not deserve, but was possible through God’s faithful and unfailing love. He asked God to pardon, which meant blotting out or removing his sin. Blotting out was the only way to remove writing off papyrus to make the paper clean to use again. David wanted to be made clean again—to have his guilt taken away, forgiven, and removed from him (Psalm 9:5, Isaiah 43:25).

Psalm 51:3–6: David then confessed his sin. He took responsibility for his sin (v. 3), and recognized his sin had been against God (v. 4a). David was ready to accept the consequences of his sin (v. 4b). There were direct consequences of David’s sin, especially the death of the child who had been conceived during his affair with Bathsheba. In verse 5, David stated he had been sinful since birth—this was not the only time he had sinned (Romans 3:10–12). David summarized God’s standard of righteousness (v. 6).

Psalm 51:7–12: David wanted to be purified and made clean (v. 7). He prayed for both forgiveness and restoration (Exodus 12:22). In verses 8-9, David took responsibility for his sin. He begged God for restoration (John 1:9). David asked for a clean heart and a renewed spirit (v. 10). He was ready to find his joy in his Lord again. David wanted to be in God’s presence (v. 11), and restored in God’s salvation (v. 12).

Psalm 51:13–17: David made two promises to God. First, he would teach others about the ways of God and bring other sinners to Him (v. 13). Second, he would praise God, because he knew God did not want his sacrifice, but the praise of his broken spirit (vv. 14–17). God wants us to come before Him with a broken and humbled heart.

Psalm 51:18–19: Finally, David turned his prayer toward Zion (also called Jerusalem). His prayer became that of intercession for Jerusalem so God would be glorified. God called David to prosper Zion, and he was ready to pick up that call again.

CLOSING

The greatest step I ever took was the night that I accepted Christ and was able to let go of the hold sin had on my life. It was a cleansing of my life. There are times when we all need to come before God, accept His merciful forgiveness, and become cleansed before Him.