The Penitential Psalm
A THREEFOLD VIEW OF SIN.
Psa_51:1-5.
INTRODUCTION.
1. The 51st Psalm is one of the great Penitential Psalms.
2. It has been called "The Sinner’s Guide."
3. Have you ever read it on your knees? For years the Author has read this Psalm on his knees every Lord’s Day morning.
4. Remember it was the prayer of "a man after God’s own heart," who had gone astray.
5. It is thus the prayer of a sinning saint.
6. A whole year had elapsed between David’s crime and David’s penitence (Far, far too long).
7. It had been a year of misery, as Psalm 32 shows. (Psalm 32 is David’s account of his experiences during that year.)
8. In mercy came Nathan the Prophet.
9. The cold frost that had bound his soul melted away, and he confessed his sin.
10. Though forgiven immediately, yet he comes into the sanctuary and wails out this hymn of agony and sorrow.
11. This Psalm repays careful study.
12. First, let us study David’s view of sin.
13. Here we see how David viewed his sin after (not before) his restoration. No one can have a right view of sin until forgiven.
14. There is a threefold repetition that is very impressive. "It is not a mere piece of Hebrew parallelism. It is more than the requirements of poetical form. It is the earnestness of a soul that cannot be content with once asking for the blessing, but dwells upon them with repeated supplication."
What a Man Thought of Sin who had Sinned.
1. The very hard things that are said in this Psalm about sin, are said by this man about himself.
2. Pray remember, we have here not merely what a man thought of sin, but what a man thought who had sinned.
3. We have something more than a theological treatise.
Tread Softly.
1. And because of that we must tread softly.
2. We must handle the words with the reverent sadness with which we enter the house of mourning.
Why have we Largely Lost the Sense of Sin?
1. A young minister put this question to an eminent Christian Judge, and he replied: "Because the world is losing its consciousness of God, and when men lose the consciousness of God’s existence they lose their fear of sin."
2. Fear is a very wholesome preventative in our civic and national life.
3. Men fear to break the laws of the country because of punishment for so doing.
4. When I am possessed of a consciousness of God I not only fear to sin, but fear because of sin.
I. HE VIEWED HIS GRIME AS TRANSGRESSION (Psa_51:1; Psa_51:3).
1. The startling fact discovered from a study of the word "sin" is that it means much more than stepping over a mark, the interpretation usually given.
2. For it is the English translation of the Hebrew word "pesha"-rebellion.
3. By Young’s Concordance we find the word "transgress" in our English Bibles is the translation of several different Hebrew and Greek words.
a. Deceive-to deal treacherously-"Bagad."
b. Trespass-"Maal."
c. Passover-"Abar."
d. Rebel-"Pasha."
4. In the New Testament the words there carry all these meanings: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth (does lawlessness) the law."
5. That is the root idea in the word transgression.
6. It really means rebellion, a breaking away from, and a setting of oneself against lawful authority.
7. Transgression is rebellion against a rightful sovereign.
8. In this word we get the outward aspect of sin.
9. And this is the first view of sin in the Psalm.
II. HE VIEWED HIS GRIME AS INIQUITY (Psa_51:2; Psa_51:5).
1. Observe, he first used the plural, now the singular.
2. This is the inward aspect of sin.
3. Young gives "perversity" as the meaning of "avon," the Hebrew word here.
4. This indicates that iniquity means that which is twisted, bent, wrung, or warped from the straight line of right.
5. To that line, drawn by God’s law, our lives should run parallel, bending neither to the right hand nor to the left.
6. "I was shapen in iniquity." This does not mean that motherhood is a sin, and maidenhood more holy and blessed, bat that the twist in our natures is inherited from our parents.
7. Sin consists not only in wrong doing, but in wrong being.
8. It also consists not only in actual wrong committed, but in the intention, the will, the wrong attitude of the soul. An aged and wealthy physician in Prussia was found dead in his bed, with finger marks around his throat, and a knife wound in his chest. His house had been plundered. Soon after an upholsterer was arrested in a neighbouring town with some of the stolen property in his possession. He made a full confession, telling how he had killed the aged physician in his sleep. But the Doctor who had performed the post-mortem examination declared that the man had died of apoplexy, and must have been dead before the burglar had broken into the house. The prisoner, in spite of his murderous intent was only punished for burglary. Under human law he was a burglar; under Divine law he was a murderer.
III. HE VIEWS HIS GRIME AS SIN (Psa_51:3-5).
1. Young gives the Hebrew word to be "chata," i.e., missing the mark.
2. Sin is coming short of God’s mark.
3. It seems to point out that every sin is a blunder as well as a crime.
4. "Thee only." What is the meaning of this? Has not David made a mistake? Had he not wronged man as well as God? Answer:
a. Here we have the language of a thoroughly penitent man. The half repentant man fixes his eye on the humiliation and shame, on the opinion of his fellows, on the disgrace it will mean to him. But the man who has got to the heart of the matter puts men and reputation out of view, forgetting every one but God.
b. Strictly speaking, sin can only be against God.
c. The returned prodigal in Luke 15 put Heaven first, then his parent: "I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight." A sure and convincing proof of his genuine repentance.
And how this prayer was answered we shall see in our next study.
A TRIPLE BLESSING.
"Blot"-"Wash"-"Cleanse" (Psa_51:1-2)
INTRODUCTION.
Opinions.
1. "The 51st Psalm is theology made luminous" (Prof. Elmslie).
2. "The 51st Psalm is the noblest expression of Penitence."
What it Follows.
1. It is well to remember that this Psalm followed Nathan’s declaration of the Divine forgiveness toward David.
2. This teaches:
a. The revelation of God’s love and wonderful grace precedes and is the cause of the truest penitence.
b. The assurance of pardon, so far from making a man think lightly of his sin, is the thing that drives it home to his conscience, and teaches him what it really is.
c. Here is the true reason of Psa_51:4. Pardoned, you think less of the consequence of sin, and more of the act (see Eze_16:60-63),
Mercy.
1. He appeals at once to the mercy of God before he mentions his sin.
2. Mercy is a foremost attribute of God. The Lord passed by before Moses and proclaimed: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful" (Exo_34:6).
3. The word "merciful" in Latin is very expressive- it is"misericordia," "miseria"-misery, and "cor" heart, i.e., a heart touched and pained at the misery of another.
"According to," i.e., in proportion to.
1. Note how he heaps up these phrases.
2. "Love-in-kindness;" "multitude of Thy tender mercies."
3. His whole hope rests upon God’s own character as revealed in His Word and in the endless continuance of His acts of love.
Triple Blessing.
As he spoke of sin in a threefold fashion, so he asks for a triple blessing.
A Query.
1. Have we here David’s cry for pardon?
2. Have we here how David thinks of forgiveness?
3. Why he was forgiven already!
4. We know that he knew very well that he was already forgiven (Psa_32:5), and certainly he would not ask for what he already possessed.
5. We shall see in our study that he was asking for three further blessings:
a. God’s forgetfulness of His crime.
b. God’s sanctification of his soul.
c. Fellowship with God and His people.
I. "BLOT OUT"-FORGETFULNESS OF SIN (Psa_51:1; Psa_51:9).
1. Young gives meaning of original as "To rub or wipe off."
2. He deserved to be blotted out of God’s Book (Exo_32:32), instead he asks for his sin to be blotted out.
3. I wonder if the Psalmist had Num_5:23 in mind- the blotting out of the curse from a scroll?
4. Here David asks the Lord to deal with his sin as an erasure of a writing or indictment, as the wiping out of a record of rebellion.
5. Is this possible? We know from Isa_43:25 and Isa_44:22 that it is.
6. Praise God, He not only forgives but forgets.
7. And it is done because of the Cross (Col_2:14).
II. "WASH "-DESIRE FOR PURITY (Psa_51:2).
1. An examination of Young’s Concordance shows that the Hebrew word "Kabas" (met with 37 times) is always used in relation to the cleansing of a garment. Another word is used for cleansing of hands and feet and body.
2. He recognises that sin, though pardoned, has defiled his soul, and now, being forgiven, he requires cleansing.
3. The garments of the soul require purity.
4. Note "Wash me throughly," literally "again and again."
5. He is praying for purity.
III. "CLEANSE"-ADMISSION INTO FELLOWSHIP (Psa_51:2).
1. This is ceremonial cleansing.
2. It is the technical word for the priestly act of declaring ceremonial cleansing from the stain of leprosy (Lev_13:6-34).
3. Observe, the leper already was clean from his leprosy, but he had to be pronounced ceremonially clean before being allowed fellowship with God and Israel in Tabernacle or Temple worship.
4. David recognised that sin cut him off from fellowship with God; he is craving for restored fellowship.
THE JUSTIFICATION OF GOD.
Psa_51:4.
INTRODUCTION.
Uncommon.
1. This certainly is an uncommon subject.
2. The justification of the sinner is a well-known topic.
3. Not so the justification of God.
Important.
1. Yet one can easily see its importance.
2. Can God be justified in all His dealings with mankind?
3. You see, His very character is at stake.
True Meaning.
1. I don’t think anyone will doubt that here David is anxious for the justification of God.
2. Bishop Patrick’s paraphrase makes it clear: "If Thou shouldest pronounce the heaviest sentence upon me for my crimes, and execute it with the greatest severity, I could not accuse Thee of too much rigour, but must still justify Thee in Thy proceedings, and clear Thee from all such unjust imputations."
Unique.
1. This is a unique illustration, and proof of a great desire for the glory of God.
2. More than desire-a consuming passion.
3. Contrast this with other illustrations:
a. Adam and Eve-Silent at the judgments of God.
b. Cain (Gen_4:13). Here is a puzzle. Was he complaining at the severity of the judgment? Or was he admitting his case as hopeless?
c. Eli (1Sa_3:18). Resignation, but that alone.
d. Hezekiah (2Ki_20:19).
I. MAN JUSTIFYING GOD BY REPENTANCE AND A TURNING TO CHRIST (Luk_7:29).
1. These were the words of the Lord Jesus Himself.
2. This is a very unusual way of putting the truth.
3. In what way did these people justify God?
a. They believed and accepted the message God had sent to them by John.
b. That message contained much that was stern. It foretold judgment to the unrepentant.
c. They admitted the justice of God’s condemnation and accepted His offer of mercy.
4. At the proclamation of the doom of the impenitent many charge God with injustice.
5. But we justify God.
II. MAN JUSTIFYING GOD IN THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE SINNER (Rom_3:26).
1. What is the message of the Epistle to the Romans? Justification of repentant sinners?
2. No; not the justification of the sinner, but the justification of God in justifying the sinner.
3. Remember it is more important that God be justified in this act of mercy than that sinners be justified.
4. If in the justifying of the sinner God became unjust, then the whole scheme of salvation falls to the ground.
5. But the Divine plan of Redemption is so wonderful that God is justified in justifying the sinner.
III. MAN JUSTIFYING GOD IN HIS DEALINGS WITH JEWISH NATION (Rom_3:4).
1. This is part of one great argument.
2. Here Paul is dealing with objections to the levelling of the Jew to the plane of the Gentile.
3. In doing this, does not God prove faithless to His promises to the covenant people?
4. No; and then Paul quotes the LXX rendering of Psa_51:4.
IV. MAN JUSTIFYING GOD IN THE SEVERE JUDGMENTS AND CHASTISEMENTS HE HAS TO BEAR (Psa_51:4).
1. And for this David provides by a frank acknowledgment of his sin, and by confessed meriting of all God’s severities.
2. What an example here for all to copy:
a. For the saved sinner, suffering physically as a result of a life of vice and sin in the unregenerate days.
b. For the saint suffering through the breaking of some of nature’s laws.
THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Psa_51:10-11, Psa_51:12.
INTRODUCTION.
1. Three Petitions. Connected with the word Spirit, we have in the great Penitential Psalm three separate petitions.
2. Though we have the same word three times, we have not the same thought.
3. The first one most certainly stands for disposition or character; the second word stands for the Third Person in the blessed Trinity; the last some think is like the first, standing for disposition or character; but surely it stands like the middle one, for the Holy Spirit, only it gives another view of His character.
4. Shall we take them in the order in which they occur?
I. "RENEW A RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN ME" (Psa_51:10).
Introduction.
1. He desired an inward work.
2. "Renew," once it had been there.
3. What is a right spirit? Best answer to that question is the other renderings.
Renderings.
1. R.V., "Steadfast."
2. A.V., margin, "Constant."
3. F.F., "Put a new mind in my breast."
Significance of "Steadfast" Rendering.
1. I have so easily yielded to temptation.
2. Renew within me a steadfast mind, a mind steady in following the path of duty, an unyielding spirit.
3. John Bunyan, in his immortal allegory, has a Mr. Standfast, a most attractive character.
Meaning of Rendering "Constant."
1. Think of a mariner’s compass or a clock.
2. A compass or a clock, always right and dependable, are to be prized and valued.
3. Oh, to have a mind always set on God!
Right Spirit. A wrong spirit can take possession of us.
Renew.
1. It was once there.
2. Lord, put it there again!
"Within."
Here he desired an inward work of grace.
How Often should we Offer this Prayer?
1. More frequently than we imagine we should.
2. For our dispositions seem mercurial, as changeable as the weather.
3. The ideal is: "The same yesterday, to-day, and forever."
4. The same, without sameness.
5. God alone can accomplish this work.
6. Let us present this prayer daily.
II. "TAKE NOT THY HOLY SPIRIT FROM ME" (Psa_51:11).
He Possessed.
1. David regards himself as still possessing the Spirit.
2. We know when the Spirit first possessed him (1Sa_16:13).
3. What longsuffering on the part of the Spirit to remain in an unclean life.
Saul.
1. Had David Saul in mind when he prayed thus? (1Sa_16:14).
Dispensation.
1. Is this a prayer for this dispensation?
2. Scofield’s valuable note: "No believer in this dispensation aware of the promise of His abiding (Joh_14:16) should pray, ‘Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me’ (Eph_4:30); but, while Christian position is not bound here, Christian experience in essence is."
3. Observe the force of Joh_14:16.
What can be taken away?
1. The Consciousness of that Holy Presence.
a. This is our Heaven below.
b. We may live in the regular enjoyment of that presence.
c. The manifestation of the Spirit is the fruit of loving obedience and watchfulness.
2. The Power of that Almighty Presence, though not the presence.
a. When we lose that power we become "weak as other men," as in Samson’s experience.
b. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that makes all the difference between preachers and workers.
III. UPHOLD ME WITH THY FREE SPIRIT (Psa_51:12).
Introduction.
1. Two facts attract one in this prayer-the desire to be upheld, and the adjectives describing the character of the Spirit.
2. This is the prayer of conscious weakness.
Renderings.
1. "Willing." R.V., margin, "Thy willing Spirit."
2. "Princely." Lit., "Thy princely Spirit."
3. "Free." Spirit has wonderful freedom. "Thy free Spirit."
A Wonderful Description of God’s Holy Spirit.
1. God’s Spirit is Royal and Princely in character, and communicates a Holy, and Royal, and Princely dignity to us.
2. God’s Spirit is a "Willing Spirit," willing to work for and in us, and will communicate to us a willingness and an ability to do God’s will.
3. God’s Spirit is a "free" Spirit, imparting wonderful freedom.
Uphold. Oh, keep me! Hold me up!
Application. Thos. Waugh discovered "though he had the Spirit, he was not filled with the Spirit; though he had welcomed the Spirit as Guest, he had not welcomed him as Host." Let the Guest become Host, i.e.. Lord. Instead of, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty," Rotherham has, "Where the Spirit is Lord, there is liberty."
WHITE, THEN WHITER THAN SNOW.
Isa_1:18; Psa_51:7.
(This study appears also in Scripture Couplets in Vol. XII, only here there are additional thoughts in harmony with the Penitential Psalm Studies.)
NOT SYNONYMOUS.
1. These are not statements that mean one and the same thing.
2. Points of difference are easily noted:
a. One was the Word of the Lord to Israel, the other a prayer by a king to the Lord.
b. The first is the Lord’s promise, the second a penitent’s plea.
c. At least 300 years separate the two utterances.
d. The first describes the work of God when He pardons and justifies the sinner; the second describes a deeper and an inward work of grace desired by the restored sinner.
e. This order is always observed: White as snow, then whiter.
f. The one is righteousness imputed, the second is righteousness imparted.
3. This does not mean that the first work was imperfect. No. It was a perfect work of justification.
I. WHITE AS SNOW. How familiar is this statement in Isa_1:18. It is:
1. A Word of Authority: "Come now."
a. Therefore it is a word that cannot be treated lightly.
b. What is behind a command is of importance.
c. If I say, "Move on," to loiterers in the street, they can afford to treat it lightly; if a policeman says the same, they will either have to "Move on" or "Move in!"
2. An Appeal to Reason. God appeals to reason as well as to affections, to our heads as well as to the heart.
3. An Importunate Word: "Now." It brooks no delay.
4. A Word for All. And that is so because it concerns sin.
5. A Word for the Double-dyed Sinner.
a. Those who understand the original declare that the word translated "scarlet" here really means the double-dyed-the twice dipped.
b. For the scarlet colour in ancient times was the result of two dippings.
c. "But I am not a double-dyed sinner," do you say? But you are.
d. We are all twice-dipped sinners-first in the vile pool of original corruption, then in the bath of actual transgressions.
e. In other words, we are sinners twice over-by birth and by choice.
6. A Word Teaching the Permanency of Sin.
a. Scarlet is a fast colour, fixed and permanent.
b. It is the Bible colour for sin, not black.
c. There is no power in chemistry that can take the scarlet colour out without destroying the fabric.
d. But what is impossible in chemistry is possible in grace.
II. WHITER THAN SNOW.
Arctic Grave. Away in the far North, on the brow of a hill covered with snow, illuminated by the light of the Polar Star, a member of an arctic expedition lies buried. A large stone covers the dead, and, on a copper tablet at the head of the grave, this text is inscribed: "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." There, amidst the eternal snows, man’s passionate longing for purity finds a voice.
David’s Mistake.
1. But did David not make a mistake when he prayed thus?
2. Surely nothing can be whiter than snow.
3. The fact is that the snowflake is not pure.
4. It seems that everything that touches this sin cursed earth is contaminated.
5. Elements of earthliness are wrapped up in the bosom of every snowflake that falls upon the earth.
6. It has been calculated that a slight fall of snow carries to the surface of the county of London alone 343 tons of solids in the following parts: 75 tons of dissolved solids, 142 tons of suspended matter, 100 tons of coal, 25 tons of salt, 1 ton of ammonia.
7. So this is a passionate longing after a deeper purity. Oh, for a purity as God counts purity! He who imparts the longing and inspires the prayer will grant the desire.
A THREEFOLD JOY.
Psa_51:8, Psa_51:14, Psa_51:15.
INTRODUCTION. In this Penitential Psalm we not only have a threefold view of sin, a threefold blessing, and a threefold reference to the Spirit, but also a threefold view of joy and gladness.
Songless Birds.
1. The Psalmist had been for a year songless.
2. No Psalms had he composed and sung, and no song could be found in his heart.
3. "When I kept silence"-suggestive phrase. He had been silent. "My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long"-strange paradox. Silent in praise, but conscience roaring-that is the meaning.
Longing for Old-Time Joy.
1. Here he longs for the old-time joy.
2. Here he longs and asks for double joy-joy and gladness.
3. Read Psa_51:12 : "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation."
4. Observe:
a. He wanted and longed for God’s joy.
b. The joy associated with His salvation.
c. A joy that deepens as our salvation becomes more thorough.
Three Organs.
1. David refers to three important organs-ear, tongue, and lips.
2. Each of which have to do with joy and gladness.
3. Let us take them in the order in which they are found.
I. CONCERNING THE EAR (Psa_51:8).
Introduction.
1. It is notable that he begins with the ear.
2. Deafness and dumbness are associated.
Sin has a Sad Effect upon our Spiritual Hearing.
1. The unforgiven one has no ear for joy and gladness. He feels out of harmony with heavenly melody, for the great discord has entered his soul. He cannot bear or tolerate joy in others when in that sad mood.
2. How could he be expected to enjoy music when he was as a wretch with every bone broken.
a. For he likens himself to one whose bones are crushed.
b. And crushed by no ordinary means.
c. He groaned under no mere flesh wounds. Like some poor sufferer, he is swallowed up of himself.
3. Then sin had made him hard of hearing. Sin always does. He prays for the recovery of hearing.
4. Before joy and gladness there must come:
a. Forgiveness and cleansing. The sense of forgiveness is like a glad morning to song birds.
b. The recovery of hearing.
c. The mood to enjoy music.
5. Another rendering: "If you hear me I joy and am glad" (F.F.). Joy and gladness the result of the assurance of God hearing and answering prayer. What a joy that brings!
II. CONCERNING THE TONGUE (Psa_51:14). Literal.
1. It is clear that David has in mind the guilt of Uriah’s death.
2. Uriah’s blood weighed upon his soul.
3. Is there a condition of soul more awful than this, to have another man’s blood resting on us!
4. Well might he be songless.
Spiritual.
1. But there is such a thing as spiritual blood-guiltiness.
2. Read Act_20:26.
3. Without doubt Paul had Ezekiel in mind. Read Eze_3:17-21; Eze_33:1-9.
4. What a serious view this is of pastoral responsibility.
5. Watchmen were the police of the East, or rather, a combination of police, soldier, and sentinel.
6. Note, the watchman’s:
a. Commissioner-God (Eze_3:17). Usually the people appointed a watchman, but God appointed this Watchman.
b. Privilege. Friendship with God. Hear the Lord’s voice "at my mouth."
c. Self-sacrifice. Self-denial; awake when others were asleep. Self-sacrifice-sometimes to die for others.
d. Chief Duty. "Give them warnings."
How to be Free from Blood-Guiltiness.
1. Unwearied labour. In rules drawn up by John Wesley for the guidance of his young preachers, we have this: "Only through unwearied labour and perseverance can we really be ‘free from the blood of all men.’ Go into every house and teach every one therein, young and old." (He meant the house of all members of the Wesleyan Society.)
2. Declaring the whole counsel of God.
3. Warning.
III. CONCERNING THE LIPS (Psa_51:15).
1. Praise is not easy. It is spoken of as sacrifice.
2. Only God can make praise possible.
3. How does God unlock the lips? By way of the heart. For praise is the employment of happy and thankful hearts.
4. It was sin that closed his lips; God would open them by dealing satisfactorily with his sin.
CONCLUSION.
1. Sometimes it happens that the older we get the more songless we become.
2. Should this be so?
THE PROBLEM IN THE PENITENTIAL PSALM.
Psa_51:16-19.
INTRODUCTION.
A Problem.
1. These verses present several problems for solution.
2. What affinity has Psa_51:18 and Psa_51:19 with the rest of the Psalm? Have they never grated upon your spiritual senses? Have you never felt a jar upon your spiritual sensibilities when you reached them? You are confessing sin and unworthiness and pleading with the Heavenly Father for soul fitness and spiritual equipment, when you come smack up against Zion and bricks and mortar. What has the blotting out of sin and sanctification of the soul to do with the Walls of Jerusalem? Why, this sentence seems an alien, a stranger, in this torrent of confession.
3. Then again, are not Psa_51:16 and Psa_51:17 in flat contradiction to the evangelical teaching concerning the Atonement. Is not salvation by blood repudiated? Does not David try to saddle God with those heterodoxical views?
An Attempt. Feeling the sentence to be alien, several solutions have been suggested, some of whom are very drastic, more in the nature of the surgeon’s knife.
1. F.F. makes another Psalm of them.
2. Prof. Blaikie says they are a "Later Addition."
3. Dr. B. says "probably added by Hezekiah."
4. Dr. Adam Clarke: "A Psalm of themselves, a kind of ejaculatory prayer for the redemption of the captives from Babylon, the re-building of Jerusalem, and the restoration of the Temple worship."
Reject. I am not afraid to say that I reject those views. Rightly considered, we shall find they are an essential part to and complement of the rest of the Psalm. Instead of being alien, we shall find they are of the same blood and ancestry.
I. DAVID’S SIN was so heinous that no provision was made for it in the Mosaic economy (Psa_51:16-17).
1. "Murder and adultery were by law punishable by death; and therefore no sacrifices were appointed to be offered by those who were guilty of them."
2. Now read Psa_51:16 and Psa_51:17 with that fact in mind.
3. A murderer could only appeal to the mercy of God, as in Psa_51:1 of this Psalm.
4. Here is an interesting Dispensational fact-the taking of life is God’s prerogative which He reserved for Himself in the Adamic dispensation (Gen_4:15), but handed over to magistrates in the antediluvian (Gen. 5 and 6).
5. Let us remember that that last decree has never been repealed, so that the agitation for the abolition of capital punishment is wrong and unscriptural.
6. If I was asked to visit a murderer in his cell, I should direct him to Luk_23:34-43, and the story of David with the 51st Psalm.
II. THE GREAT VALUE OF REAL REPENTANCE, plus the Sacrifice of the Cross (Psa_51:17; Psa_51:19).
1. Oh the importance of that little word "Then" in Psa_51:19.
2. What a fine description of true penitence we have in Luk_23:17.
3. Penitence alone has no saving element in it.
4. Yet only the true penitent can enter into the benefits of Christ’s death.
5. God has no delight in sacrifices and burnt-offerings for their own sake; but merely as shadows of the true atonement and expression of a penitent and believing heart.
6. An impenitent spirit bolts and bars the door against the mercy and grace of God, and makes of no value the death of Christ.
7. Of what value is the repetition of the General Confession without true penitence?
III. THE GREAT BULWARK OF A NATION consists primarily in spiritual fitness and qualification (Psa_51:18).
1. What, think you, is the great bulwark of a nation? Not warriors and warships, but godly men and women. "Sin is a disgrace to any people, but righteousness exalteth a nation."
2. David’s sin had exposed the whole nation to disaster.
3. David feared lest his guilt should render him as an Achan in the congregation of Israel, and therefore he concluded his penitential prayer with entreating God to protect and prosper Zion.
4. His sin had, as it were, broken down the walls of Jerusalem. Grace alone could rebuild.
5. I doubt whether our City Missions would be reckoned by many as a national asset; rather they would be estimated as a non-producing class, therefore parasites. But the fact is, they are re-building and strengthening the national wall of defence against our foes.
6. The workers are under-masons, working under the great Master-mason and Architect of the Universe. Let us build well, for we are building for eternity.
SOUL-WINNING.
Psa_51:13.
INTRODUCTION.
Final.
1. This, our eighth study, must for the present be our concluding study of Psalm 51.
2. And from the standpoint of workers, what a fine conclusion this is to be sure.
"Then."
1. How important some little words are.
2. The first word of this verse is of supreme value.
Soul-Winners.
1. All believers should be professional soul-winners, carrying on soul-winning on non-professional lines.
2. Here are several important points:
I. IT’S QUALIFICATION.
1. In his Presidential Address at a Wesleyan Conference, Dr. Ritson made this statement: "The Christian ministry is the only profession in the world in which the message and the messenger are inseparable."
2. The success of our message depends very largely upon the success of the message with and in us.
3. In order that the right quality might be behind the work, there must be soul adjustment with God.
4. "Then." When?
a. Be converted (Luk_22:31-32). The Lord might at times use unconverted people, but that is not His usual rule.
b. Be converted again i.e., restored.
c. In the enjoyment of pardon, assurance, fellowship, purity, gladness.
d. In the possession of Pentecostal fulness.
e. In the practice of prayer.
II. ITS MOTIVE.
1. "Then." When? When additionally indebted to God for wondrous grace.
2. An expression of gratitude for abounding mercies received personally.
3. As a great longing for others to share in the same blessed experience.
III. ITS USUAL PRELIMINARY.
Teaching God’s Ways. And what a wondrous teacher David would become. From bitter experience he could discourse on:
1. The evil nature and bitterness of sin itself.
2. The nature of true repentance.
3. The requirement in order that sin might be forgiven, i.e., Cross.
4. Encourage them to come by relating own experience.
How we May Teach God’s Ways.
1. Through the Word, noting God’s ways with others.
2. Through a relation of our own personal experiences.
IV. ITS ULTIMATE END. "And sinners shall be converted unto Thee."
1. Not unto a Church, or denomination, or Assembly, or system of belief, good and essential as these are.
2. "Unto Thee."
BOASTING.
Negative: "No flesh shall glory" (1Co_1:29).
Positive: "Let him glory in the Lord" (1Co_1:31). Boasting seems part and parcel of our make-up. All glory in something. God has prepared a cure, not by repressing the instinct, but by giving it a worthy subject and object. Boasting is therefore quite legitimate if the right theme be adopted. And the theme? Jer_9:23-24. Paul gloried in:
I. The Cross, Gal_6:14
II. The Lord, 1Co_1:31
III. Tribulation, Rom_5:3
IV. Infirmities, 2Co_12:9
Autor: James Smith