Continuing from last weeks study lets begin in Psalm 51:4

Psalm 51:4-8
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.

5 For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice.

Starting off in verse 4, David shows us the truth of sin and we don’t like it. To see all the wrong we have and will do to each other in this world, even when we may feel they deserve it, is actually against God Himself. OUCH!

You may say, what about Bathsheba; the murdering of her husband Uriah; David’s wife; what about the in-laws. David sin against all of them yet left them out. Yes, he did sin against them, but David is sharing a truth about sin, it is ultimately against God when we sin and we must clearly understand this.

David’s admittance of sinning against God and Him alone is profound. This verse has been used to blaspheme God for thousands of years with statements like: So this is God’s chosen one; God obviously makes mistakes, he chose David the adulterer and murderer. Yet these slanderous statements against God were fore warned in 2 Samuel 12:14 NASB “14″However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme…”.

Why do you think we have a hard time accepting all sin is against God?

In verse 5 David even goes further to show our true state—born sinners. What is the most common first word a baby learns? Mommy, Daddy or NO? It is NO, why? Do we sit in front of our infants and say no, no, no, no? Infants can’t crawl, they just lay there smiling at you with those big beautiful eyes. They eat, sleep, make some noise and go potty. It would be insane to say no to an infant. Yet they pick up that little ugly word with no coaxing.

Look at Galatians 6:1. Paul recognized our own nature. Even in Ecclesiastes 7:20, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.”

There are those people that think they are clean and sin free once they accept Christ and are on a church role somewhere.

How do we get such teachings and beliefs?

Then in verse 6 David reveals God’s desire. The point is this, it’s only after we have a right (proper, only) view of sin, we come to the right view of God!!! God’s desire is an inward change, not an outward show.

Do you know people that call themselves Christian, because they do all the Christian stuff?

The first question is this, what is Christian stuff and how did we get to this assumption?

The world looks upon Christians from an outward position: They go to church; Carry a big bible around; Have a cross around their neck; Faithfully go to bible study; Never miss a church program. Yet as nice as these can be, they are not the true indicator of being a Christian (saved). An unsaved person can do all those things and yet go straight to HELL when they die.

It’s the same with outward actions such as Baptism. Did the person get baptized because that was the next requirement or was it to honestly signify their love for Jesus? Your not saved, just because you’ve been baptized. If your going through the motions, all it is is lip service.

Verse 7, Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice.

In the NASB, verse 7 specifically refers to hyssop, “Purify me with hyssop”. Why is hyssop used as a reference for purification?

Hyssop is a plant that grew in that region and was used specifically as part of the ceremonial cleaning (sacrifices) in those days. Here are three examples of its uses.

1. At Passover, it was used to spread the blood of the lamb on the doorposts.
2. In the cleansing of a leaper. Two birds were collected; one to kill and the other dipped in the blood with hyssop and let go to fly away.
3. As Israel wandered the wilderness. One a person sinned they just couldn’t stop and put up the tabernacle and offer a sacrifice. So God made a provision for this. They killed a red heifer and burned it with hyssops added. Then they collected the ashes and carried them with them on their journey. If a person sinned they would place some ashes in water and then dip hyssop in the ashes to apply to the person that sinned.

Closing thought,
Who made the first move in the forgiveness race? Was it David, when he confessed his sins and asked for cleansing in verse 7?

Look back in 2 Samuel 12:13. We like to think that we realize our sins and give them over to God. The truth is God already knows our hearts, those dark deep secret places and longs to extend His grace. Even when we are neck deep (actively, knowingly, voluntarily participating) in sin He wants us (crazy but he does). It was God whom sent the prophet Nathan to David.

If we look closely at the bible as a whole, we will see that the application of a sacrifice brings forgiveness. Is this not what Jesus did for each of us. The actual application (to be sacrificed) that we may come to know the Father.