Introduction: It is thought that King David wrote this Psalm in the aftermath of his affair with Bathsheba, the murder of her husband, and the death of David and Bathsheba's son. I want to read the story to you...
2 Sam 11:26 When Uriah's wife (Bathsheba) heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
2 Sam 11:27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
2 Sam 12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
2 Sam 12:2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,
2 Sam 12:3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
2 Sam 12:4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."
2 Sam 12:5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
2 Sam 12:6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."
2 Sam 12:7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
2 Sam 12:8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
2 Sam 12:9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
2 Sam 12:10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'
2 Sam 12:11 "This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.
2 Sam 12:12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'"
2 Sam 12:13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
2 Sam 12:14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."
Psalm 51 teaches us four things we need to know about the MERCY OF GOD:
I. God's mercy is rooted in His unfailing love.
Psa 51:1 "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love..."
The Bible says that GOD IS LOVE. Love is one of God's attributes. Just as He is always omnipotent, always omniscient, always omnipresent, always holy and just; even so He is always full of love. In the famous "love chapter" of I Corinthians 13, Paul wrote that "love never fails." This is certainly true of God's love.
We are not often like God in the way we love, though we should be. In every marriage made in our land, the husband and wife profess their eternal love. "Til death us do part, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer," and so on. Yet 50% of our marriages end in divorce. Our love often fails, because we are just human beings. God's love never fails, because He is God, and because eternal love is part of His very being.
If you are a child of God, you may rest assured that God loves you, and He will always love you. There is nothing you can do that is so bad that God will turn His back on you. King David in his episode with Bathsheba is a striking example of the faithfulness of God to one of His children. God brought David back to Himself, and He will do the same for you.
II. God's Mercy actually erases our sins and guilt (Ps. 51:1-2).
David prayed..."according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin."
"Blot out," "wash away," and "cleanse" are words that describe what God does to our sins.
God can do what we cannot do. From time to time we repaint our houses inside and out. Why? Because we cannot erase or wash away all the dust and grime that accumulates over the years. But we can paint over it, and make it look OK.
Did you ever try to clean up a bath tub that had years of accumulation of lime, rust and dirt? Sometimes it just can't be done. You may scrub with comet, or some super cleanser from the hardware store, but you just can't get the tub completely clean. Sometimes we hire professionals to refinish our bath tubs, and cover up what we cannot wash away.
God can do better than that with our hearts. He doesn't paint over our sin and guilt, He actually erases our sin and guilt. How?
There is only one soap strong enough to wash away our sins: the blood of Jesus, the eternal Son of God. There is an old Gospel song (#195 in our hymn book) about this:
"What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
O precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
1 Pet 1:18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
1 Pet 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
III. God's Mercy is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY (Psalm 51:3-5).
"For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."
David was open and realistic about the depth of sin in his life. He was constantly aware of his sinfulness. He realized that the sins he had committed against Bathsheba, against Uriah, and against the nation of Israel were even more truly sins against God. He confessed that God was just and righteous in His judgment. He understood that he was born a sinner, with a sinful heart, from day one of his life.
We sinful human beings have hardly any understanding of how sinful we are in the eyes of God, and our understanding of sin is getting dimmer every day. We once knew that immodesty was sinful. Now when people undress and act provacative in public we call them pop stars, and pay them millions of dollars. We once knew that "shacking up" before marriage was "living in sin." But now it is rapidly becoming the norm, and no one says anything against it. We once knew that homosexuality was sinful, and homosexuals stayed "in the closet." Now gay rights have become civil rights, and we elect gay pastors to be Bishops of our churches. We once knew it was sinful to cheat and steal, but cheating on tests and stealing from the work place have become pervasive in our schools and businesses. We once knew it was a sin to lie, but now our tv's and radios lie to us everyday, and we accept it as normal
How bad is sin in God's eyes? Do you remember what God did thousands of years ago, because of the sinfulness of mankind?
Gen 6:5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
Gen 6:6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
Gen 6:7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them."
God has graciously promised not to destroy the world again by means of a flood. But this is a lesson to us about the sinfulness of sin, and how offensive sin is to God. The point is: the human race is very sinful, and WE MUST HAVE MERCY FROM GOD. We stand in need of mercy.
IV. God's mercy toward His children is COMPLETELY TRANSFORMING.
Just as our sinfulness permeates every atom of our being, God's mercy reaches into every atom of our being, and transforms us.
Psa 51:7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Psa 51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Psa 51:9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Psa 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psa 51:11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Psa 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
He cleanses us from sin. He washes our hearts whiter than snow. He brings joy to our bones. He hides His face from our sins, and blots out all our iniquities. He creates a pure heart within us. He renews our spirits. His Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts and bodies. He fills us with joy, and will to live! He sustains us, and gives meaning to life!
CONCLUSION: What does Psalm 51 say to us about the mercy of God?
May the Lord bless our hearts, and make us grow in the Faith, as we contemplate the great mercy of God.