The Prayer Series
– Praying for Mercy, Forgiveness and Cleansing
The
Prayer Series
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While you can pray through any part of the Bible, some books and chapters are much easier to pray through than others. Overall, the Book of Psalms is the best place in Scripture from which to pray Scripture. Almost every aspect of man’s relation to God is depicted in these poems: simple trust, the sense of sin, appeals to a higher power in time of trouble, and the conviction that the world is in the hands of a loving God. Join us in this 4 week series as we learn how to pray more God-centered prayers and enjoy more focus in prayer.
4.
Praying for God's Mercy, Forgiveness and Cleansing (Psalm 51)
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God wants our hearts to be right with Him.
Sermon
Preparation Guide
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Importance – What are the central ideas of the text?
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Sin requires that we confess our sin to God and throw ourselves on His mercy. (Psalm 51:1 & 2)
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The root offense of our sin is that we sin against a holy God, have always done so since birth, and require His forgiveness in order to be purified. (Psalm 51:4-7)
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Cleansing from sin involves restoration of relationship with God, of joy and of our spirit, and results in the restoration of our desire to praise Him. (Psalm 51:8, 12, 14 & 15)
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Implications – What questions should the listener be asking?
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Do you understand your sinful nature, and that you continue to sin; and are you ready to confess your sin to a holy God?
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Are you able to confess that your sin, though it harms others, is actually sin against God Himself?
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What restoration do you need as a result of your confession of sin?
Talk it
Over Discussion Guide
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Interpretation – What is the text telling/showing us?
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What does it mean for God to have mercy on you? What is God's mercy, and how “large” is it?
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What is the relationship between God's love and His mercy?
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Why did David need God's mercy? What is the effect God's mercy would have on David?
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What are transgressions? What is iniquity? What is sin? What are these three things in David's life?
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What is the effect of one's transgressions on one's relationship with God?
- What are the anticipated blessings to David from God's mercy?
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How does David want to continue on as a result of being forgiven and cleansed by God? In other words, in what way does he want to be renewed? (hint: Psalm 51:10-12)
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How does David's being forgiven and cleansed affect his desire for others to know God? How does it affect the nation, Israel?
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Implementation – What should the listener’s response be?
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Do you need God's mercy? Why?
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Are there any sins that you need to confess to God and ask for His mercy and forgiveness?
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If you confess your sins to God, will He grant His mercy towards you and forgive you?
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Why do you sin? Where does sin come from, and why are you infected with the “sin disease?”
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What is the solution to the “sin disease?”
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How are you like David in terms of needing God's mercy, forgiveness and cleansing?
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Do you want “wisdom in the secret heart” from God (Psalm 51:6b)
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What happens to your relationship with God when you sin? When you continue in sin?
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How can your relationship with God be renewed if you sin and realize your sin?
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Do you desire to pray Psalm 51:10 & 11 in particular?
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If you feel the need to confess sin to God and receive His mercy, forgiveness and cleansing, write out your own version of Psalm 51, using your own words, and make it your prayer to God. And don't wait to do it … seek restoration now, and you will be glad you did!
Sermon
Teaching Notes (as
prepared by Pastor Dick Murphy)
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Investigation – What’s generally going on in this area of Scripture?
Psalm
51 is a “penitential” Psalm which is a type of “lament”
Psalm. As such, this Psalm, the last we will look at in this Series,
is quite different than the prior three Psalms we studied. Psalm 51
is highly personal as it relates specifically to the Psalmist’s own
situation and spiritual needs. In fact, this is a Psalm of David,
which issued from a difficult time in his life, as the superscript
tells us: “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David when Nathan the
prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” So, what
is this all about? II Samuel 11:1-12:25 tell us the story.
David
was king over Israel, his throne having been well established and
various enemies of Israel defeated (II Samuel 8:1-3, 6, 14-18; 10:13
& 14). There were still battles to be fought, however, and these
occurred in spring and summer when the weather was better. One
particular spring, the Israelite armies went to battle, but David
stayed home, contrary to the normal practice of the king joining his
troops in battle. (II Samuel 11:1). While home in Jerusalem, David
got up from his bed one evening and took a walk on the roof of his
palace home which overlooked Jerusalem (II Samuel 11:2) While
walking, and because his palace home was on a higher elevation than
the homes and structures around the palace, he saw a totally
unsuspecting, beautiful woman bathing at her home. He inquired about
her and was told who she was. In fact, her father was one of David's
“mighty men,” (II Samuel 23:29) and his father was Ahithophel,
one of David's most trusted advisors (II Samuel 15:12). Her husband
was also one of the “mighty men.” (II Samuel 23:39). It is thus
entirely reasonable to suggest that David was acquainted with this
woman and knew where she lived; and also to suggest that she was
drying herself on the roof of her house in the cool air in order to
be seen by the king. David then had her brought to his palace where
they had intimate relations (II Samuel 11:2-4). She subsequently
returned to her home and sent word to David that she was pregnant (II
Samuel 11:5). The woman’s name was Bathsheba, and her husband,
Uriah the Hittite, was with the Israelite army that was away in
battle (II Samuel 11:3, 6 & 7). When David learned Bathsheba was
pregnant, he had Uriah brought back from battle and asked him to go
to his house, David’s thinking being that the pregnancy could be
thus covered up. However, Uriah would not go into his home and wife,
for he was dedicated to his men who were still in battle, and would
not dishonor them in such a way (II Samuel 11:8-13). Once Uriah was
back to the battlefront, David had him placed at the fiercest point
of fighting, knowing that he would likely be killed which was, in
fact, what happened (II Samuel 11:14-25). After Bathsheba mourned
her husband’s death, David brought her into his home to be his
wife; and she gave birth to a son (II Samuel 11:26 & 27).
Thereafter, Nathan the prophet came to David and confronted him with
his sin, to which David then confessed, and then pronounced God’s
judgment on David (II Samuel 12:1-15).
So
what we have in Psalm 51 is David's response to his sin. Think about
it; David had some nine months to consider what he had done. Did he
recognize his sin during that time frame? Or had David come to the
place that he believed he could have whatever he wanted because he
was the king and was thus “above the law?” Or was David
dissatisfied with what God had given to him and thought he deserved
more, such that if God didn't provide it, he would just take it? We
don't really know the answers to these questions. What we do know
from the Psalm, and from II Samuel 12:13, is that once confronted by
God through the prophet, Nathan, David confessed his sin. And that
sin included adultery with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of
Uriah; but it also included not being with and leading his troops in
the battle, taking something that was not his (namely, Bathsheba),
presuming on his position and power to get his way, and
dissatisfaction with God. Once he confessed, however, David was
acutely aware of the nature of his sin and desired restoration of his
relationship with God. One tends to think that in these intervening
nine months, David was likely not involved with wholehearted worship,
unless he just went through the motions, but was more and more
separated from God whether or not he realized it. When Nathan said
to David, “You are the man!” (I Samuel 12:7), David was faced
squarely with his state of sin and rebellion, and however soon it was
(though it seems it was very
soon thereafter) after
that confrontation that he wrote this Psalm, his words reflect his
full understanding of not only his sin but of his acute need. His
immediate problem upon the confrontation was that the punishment for
adultery was death to both the adulterer and the adulteress
(Leviticus 20:10), but God absolved him of that punishment when
Nathan said, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not
die.”
But
David then needed to make his confession clear to the Lord. He thus
begins the Psalm coming to God and begging for God's mercy (which is
undeserved favor), and David bases his request on his trust that
God's mercy derives from His love (compare
Ephesians
2:4 & 5). Thus, he asks that God “blot out” his
transgressions (i.e.,
his
sins) in accordance with His “abundant” mercy. David knew that
God's mercy was big enough and wide enough to take care of his sins,
so his request is in keeping with who God is. David then makes the
request specific: he pleads with God, to “wash me thoroughly from
my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51:2) David's
confession is clear; he knows his transgressions, and his sin is ever
before him (Psalm51:3). But David goes farther by saying that he
knows his sin was against God Himself, and that God is justified and
right to pass judgment on him (Psalm 51:4). David recognizes that
his sin was not isolated; he confesses that he was born in sin (Psalm
51:5), and that he knew right from wrong from the start (Psalm 51:6)
and therefore is without excuse. Therefore, only God can make him
clean and restore him, and he therefore pleads to God, “purge me
with hyssop,” which is a reference to what priests would do when
they cleansed and purified the leper (Leviticus 14:1-7). David asks
for restoration, as he wants to find joy again in his God (Psalms
51:8), and desires that God hide His face from his sings and blot
them out. David knows that his ongoing unconfessed sin is a barrier
to his relationship with God, that it separates him from fellowship
with God, for God sees the sin. Thus, David needs and asks that God
no longer see the sin in him so that the basis for rejoicing can be
given back to him. But David also knows that the action required for
this restoration can only come from God, and from God's changing
David's own heart. Hence the following requests: “Create in me a
clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm
51:10), “Cast me not away form your presence, and take not your
Holy Spirit from me,” (Psalm 51:11), and “Restore to me the joy
of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” (Psalm
51:12) Being excluded from God's presence, wherein is life, joy and
fullness, is unimaginable to David at this point as he realizes the
consequences of his sin. Only forgiveness and restoration from God
Himself can deliver David, so he unhesitatingly asks for that
restoration, and promises to use his experience as a lesson to other
sinners so that they, too, will return to God (Psalm 51:13). But
David again goes farther and even promises that he will speak and
sing to others of his such deliverance so as to praise God for who He
is and for His righteousness. (Psalm 51:14 & 15)
One
would think David could have ended the Psalm at verse 15, with praise
to God. But no, David doesn't end but goes on to declare that mere
external actions or engaging in rituals designed to appease God are
insufficient; sacrifices and offerings will not do and therefore,
David will not offer or give (Psalm 51:16). Rather, David
acknowledges that the state of a sinner's heart is the key, and that
God wants a “broken spirit” and a “broken and contrite heart.”
(Psalm 51:17. Compare
Jeremiah 7:9-11) It is not a far stretch to say that in Psalm 51,
David expresses a true broken spirit, and a broken and contrite
heart; he longs for mercy, forgiveness and cleansing even as he asks,
indeed begs God for such. But even beyond personal restoration,
David recognizes the effect of his sin on the community, in this case
the nation Israel. Certainly David's dalliance with Bathsheba would
have become know, and perhaps there were even murmurings about the
timing of Uriah's death. We cannot know, but even if facts were not
known and shared one to another, one surmises that rumors were.
Whatever the case, David's personal spiritual state had an impact on
the nation he led. So he asks that good be done to Zion, to God's
covenantal people, His children, His city, and by inference that good
is the triumph of God's righteousness and the example of true worship
from a broken and contrite heart such that when sacrifices and
offerings are made, they will be made with the right heart attitude
and be acceptable to God. (Psalm 51:18 & 19)
Psalm
51 is indeed an awesome Psalm, and we should have no trouble using it
as another template for our own prayer life, for we, like David, are
sinners in need of restoration. (See
I John 1:8 & 9) No, we may not have committed the sins David
did; but sin is sin, and all sin separates us from God. As
believers, when we sin intentionally and do not confess it, our
relationship with God is breached, our joy in Him is lost, and our
spiritual compass is offset. We need God's mercy, forgiveness and
cleansing; we need restoration. We would hope that coming to God in
confession would not require the intervention from someone else to
point out our sin (though that is sometimes necessary), but that we
would recognize our own sin, call it what it is, and go to God who
extends His mercy out of His love and offers forgiveness in Jesus
Christ and cleansing, so that we might be restored in fellowship with
Him. So, use Psalm 51 when you confront your own sin; allow the
words of David to be your words; come to God with a broken spirit and
a broken and contrite heart. Out of His steadfast love, you will
find God's mercy, you will receive forgiveness, and you will be
cleansed, fully restored to right relationship with Him. Praise God!
