DO YOU WANT A CLEAN HEART?

Psalm 51:1-19 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David,

when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

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 Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right[b] spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

build up the walls of Jerusalem;

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

---

Context → 2 Samuel 11-12

But let me recap these chapters & give some context

At the time when kings went out to battle, David stayed home.

He commits adultery.

She becomes pregnant.

David murders her husband, Uriah.

Adultery. Murder.

Nathan confronts David.

2 Samuel 12:9 ESV

9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

2 Samuel 12:13-15 ESV

13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the [word of the] LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.

---

Psalm 51:1 ESV

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

This is called a ‘superscription’

Psalm 51:1 ESV

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

“To the choirmaster.”

This psalm was sent to the choirmaster.

This psalm was meant to be sung by Israel (the people of God).

2 Implications:

1) This psalm is for the assembly of sinners

2) David has made this psalm a public display of repentance

1 Peter 2:24 ESV

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

This is repentance

Martin Luther wrote in his 95 Theses:

"When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed that the entire life of believers should be one of repentance." – Martin Luther (Thesis #1; 95 Theses)

Psalm 51 is a psalm of repentance

PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS

Psalm 51:1-2 ESV

1 Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

David pleads for mercy

He uses 3 different words to describe how thoroughly he needs to be cleansed

Blot out

Wash

cleanse

He uses 3 different words to describe how thoroughly & completely & comprehensively he has sinned against God.

Transgression

Iniquity

Sin

Psalm 51:3 ESV

3 For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

‘I know’

David is deeply aware of his sin

His sin is ‘before’ him

It is in the forefront of his mind (before his eyes)

His sin is ‘ever’ before him.

Always. Constantly.

Psalm 51:4 ESV

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

David is not denying that he has committed a heinous offense against Bathsheba & Uriah

The point is that sin is, ultimately, an offense against God.

To admit this, without making excuses, is a mark of true repentance.

Psalm 51:5 ESV

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

This is the doctrine of original sin

Every human being born since Adam has been born sinful

David is not saying → he is a sinner because he sinned.

David is saying → he sinned because he is a sinner.

Repentance must include an acknowledgement that you are a sinner.

Psalm 51:6 ESV

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

In the midst of his brokenness, David anticipates the renewal that is sure to come.

This is faith.

There can be no repentance apart from faith.

There can be no faith apart from repentance.

Psalm 51:7 ESV

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Purge me → “Unsin me”

Hyssop is an actual plant that was used for ritual sprinkling of blood.

For instance, the blood of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:22)

David pleads for God to do the work of the priest & cleanse him from his defilement.

We know now that God has done that for all of us who would believe in Jesus.

Hebrews says Jesus is our great High Priest (Hebrews 9:25-28)

Psalm 51:8 ESV

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

He will hear himself sing songs of joy & gladness.

He will hear others sing songs of joy & gladness.

There will be joy & gladness in heaven over every sinner who repents.

There will be joy & gladness in the very heart of God as He sings over His repentant people.

Psalm 51:9 ESV

9 Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

Augustine says →

“Switch your sin to a position before your face, if you want God to turn his face away from it.” – Augustine

Now David shifts:

Removal of sins → Renewal of the sinner

PRAYER FOR RENEWAL

Psalm 51:10 ESV

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right[b] spirit within me.

The verb ‘create’ indicates that God needs to bring into existence that which did not exist before.

‘Renew’ → make new

Jeremiah 24:7 ESV

7 I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

Psalm 51:11 ESV

11 Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

God removed his Holy Spirit from King Saul (1 Samuel 16:14)

David fears this more than anything else.

Psalm 51:12 ESV

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

We know now that true joy of God’s salvation is found only in Jesus.

This willing spirit loves God’s standard.

Psalm 51:13 ESV

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

When we return to God in repentance, and we experience the new covenant renewal that God offers us in Jesus, we cannot help but tell others about how good repentance is.

Psalm 51:14 ESV

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

God’s covenant righteousness →

How He righteously forgives those who repent

How He righteously punishes those who refuse to repent

Psalm 51:15 ESV

15 O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

True Repentance produces faith + forgiveness → which leads to praise

Psalm 51:16-17 ESV

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

The old covenant sacrificial system was never adequate

Sin had to be atoned for every year

It was incomplete

The true sacrifice of God had to come in the person of God Himself, Jesus Christ

To see our sin as the cause of Christ’s death breaks us.

Now David prays for the renewal of others…the people of God.

PRAYER FOR RENEWAL FOR GOD’S PEOPLE

Psalm 51:18-19 ESV

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

build up the walls of Jerusalem;

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

When we experience the fruits of true repentance…

We want others to experience the same

I long for God to make us a people marked by true repentance

1 John 1:7 ESV

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.