A Good Cleaning

1. A GoodCleaning Psalm 51

2. “Impossible?” Cleanliness is next to what?

3. We know how difficult it is to keep our lives pure from sin. • There isn’t a one of us who doesn’t struggle with sin that makes us unclean. • In tonight’s text, David is struggling with the impurity of sin. • “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (v 2, ESV). • “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (v 7, ESV). • “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (v 10, ESV).

4. Before composing this Psalm, David had sinned with Bathsheba. • David did nothing wrong at first. • He simply walked out & saw a beautiful woman bathing (2 Sm 11:2). • David did nothing wrong when he walked out on his roof. • Of course, he didn’t stop there. • He called for Bathsheba & committed adultery with her. • He then had her husband killed in battle & married Bathsheba to cover up her pregnancy.

5. God sent Nathan the prophet to confront David for his sin. • Tonight’s text was written after that confrontation & the King of Israel asks the King of kings for “A Good Cleaning.” • Psalm 51:1-13.

6. REMISSION REALIZATION REVELATION REJOICING RENEWAL What comes about because of a good cleaning?

7. vv 1-2 remission

8. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (vv 1-2, ESV).

9. David here pleads with God to forgive him. • He pleads on the basis of God’s “steadfast love” (ESV) or “lovingkindness” (KJV) & God’s abundant mercy. • “Mercy” is that which causes one to help the poor & sick. • “Steadfast love” is a patient love. • David asks for his sins to be blotted out. • The picture is of sins being written down as a debt. • He asks the Lord to cancel his debt. • David asks for his sins to be washed away. • The picture is of sins as filth that need cleansing.

10. David stood in desperate need of God’s forgiveness. • God is One “who will by no means clear the guilty” (Ex 34:7, ESV). • “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23, ESV).

12. “I do not seek a kindness equal to that given to Paul. Nor do I ask the grace granted to Peter. But that forgiveness which Thou didst grant to the robber – that, earnestly I crave!” • Do you need that forgiveness?

13. vv 3-5 realization

14. “I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 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. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (vv 3-5, ESV).

15. David acknowledged his sins, for they were always before him. • David didn’t try to wiggle out of his sin. • He expresses personal responsibility for his sin. • “My transgressions” & “my sin.” • They were not sins everyone else had committed. • Accepting personal responsibility for sin is so important. • “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn 1:8, ESV). • Many in Scripture accepted responsibility for sin. • Prodigal Son: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you” (Lk 15:21, ESV).

16. David acknowledged his sins, for they were always before him. • David didn’t try to wiggle out of his sin. • He expresses personal responsibility for his sin. • “My transgressions” & “my sin.” • They were not sins everyone else had committed. • Accepting personal responsibility for sin is so important. • “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn 1:8, ESV). • Many in Scripture accepted responsibility for sin. • Paul: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Tim 1:15, ESV).

18. David has only sinned against God. • At first glance, that seems odd, for David has sinned against Uriah & Bathsheba. • But, David understood he had broken God’s covenant. • At the root of all sin is sin against God.

19. v 6 revelation

20. “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart” (v 6, ESV).

21. David understands that God desires purity in man’s inner part. • The only way for David to have that inner cleansing is for God to teach him. • We can have inner cleansing through Scripture. • “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word” (Ps 119:9, ESV). • “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth” (1 Pet 1:22, ESV).

22. vv 7-9 rejoicing

23. “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities” (vv 7-9, ESV).

24. David asks God to cleanse him of his sin. • He asks to be purged with hyssop. • Priests sprinkled cleansed lepers with hyssop (Lev 14:2-9). • David asks for this symbolic cleansing himself. • He wants to be whiter than snow. • Clean garments were said to be whiter than snow. • This saying came to be applied to pure lives.

25. When David knows he has forgiveness, he will rejoice. • He asks to hear joy & gladness. • After the visit from Nathan, David had no joy or gladness. • But, now the king pleads for joy. • David pleads that his crushed bones might rejoice. • David pictures God’s judgment as the crushing of bones. • He asks that his judgment might be turned to joy.

26. When our sins are forgiven, we have every right to rejoice. • Jesus told the seventy to rejoice that their names were written in heaven (Lk 10:20). • After his baptism, the eunuch went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:39).

27. vv 10-11 renewal

28. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (vv 10-11, ESV).

29. David asks for a clean heart & a new and right spirit. • A clean heart isn’t clouded by sin. • We need God to cleanse our hearts, for we cannot cleanse ourselves. • “If the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb 9:13-14, ESV). • “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11, ESV).

30. We desperately need new hearts. • “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov 4:23, ESV). • If our hearts aren’t changed, we will simply continue to commit the same sins. • The good news is that when we come to Jesus, all things are changed. • “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17, ESV). • Have you experienced that life-changing power?

31. David asks to be accepted by God. • The removal of the Holy Spirit signifies God’s displeasure with someone. • When Saul was rejected as King, the Spirit left him (1 Sam 16:14). • David understands that if God removes his Spirit from him, God has removed his pleasure. • Do you know the pleasure of God?

32. When David has had “A Good Cleaning,” he’s going to serve God. • He will teach sinners (v 13). • He will worship & praise God (v 15). • Have you had “A Good Cleaning”?