Simple Disquisitions on Penitence

Well on our way into the penitential psalms, we come now to what is called “The Great Penitential Psalm” – Ps 51. While the reference may not be immediately familiar, the heartfelt words of repentance will be. In fact, leave this webpage up, take a few minutes and quietly, prayerfully read the chapter. Don’t be surprised if the melody of Keith Green’s classic Create In Me a Clean Heart, plays in the back of your mind, as you read. If you have been a member of Good Shepherd for very long, perhaps, you will hum the strain of the Trinity Psalter version of Ps 51 – God be merciful to me. On thy grace I rest my plea. Plentious in compassion, thou. Blot out my transgressions, now…

Perhaps, you have used some of the familiar words of this chapter in your own seasons of confession, from time to time. This is one of the most recognizable portions of all the psalter. Yet, don’t let familiarity cloud your vision to all that is going on here. And, there is a lot going on here.

Who knows how many powerful sermons by stalwart preachers from the halls of Church History have been preached on this text. The commentary material on this passage is immense. For our purposes in these “simple” disquisitions, we have time only for a little unpacking and meditating. To warm your heart, read Charles Surgeon’s gem, The Treasury of David on this passage. This commentary on the Psalms is golden and should be on the shelf of every Christian. For a bit more technical help with the chapter, consult Willem A. VanGemeren’s contribution on the Psalms in vol 5 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary.

My thoughts are being greatly helped by renowned Reformed OT scholar, Bruce Waltke, whom, you may know, was the OT editor for the Reformation Study Bible. Waltke’s article, Atonement in Ps 51: My Sacrifice, O God, Is a Broken Spirit, in The Glory of the Atonement, ed. By Charles E. Hill and Frank A. James, is simple excellent, as is that whole volume of essays – truly one of the best book purchases I have made over the last couple of years.

At any rate, let’s continue our exploration of penitence in the psalms, as we make our way to the glorious day of resurrection this Easter season. By now, you may have noticed a certain general pattern or gist to these penitential psalms, expressed by the common elements of opening address, lament over sin and situation, expression of faith and trust in the Lord, petition, and praise. Our “Great Penitential Psalm” is no different. David opens this heartbroken chapter with his eyes and hope set on three essential attributes of his God (I am transliterating, as many of you wil not have Hebrew fonts installed) - hanan, hesed, and raham. These are translated variously in our English versions of he Bible. Characteristically tight, the ESV closely renders these words in v. 1, “mercy,” “steadfast love,” and “abundant mercy.”

The point is that David knows his God, and he must have known his Moses, as well. What I mean is that we find these very words revealing our covenant God’s character in Ex 34:6-7, “The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation’” (ESV).

You remember the backdrop, do you not? Moses was on Mt. Sinai (Ex 25ff.) learning from the Lord, himself, about what true worship was to look like for the people of Israel. What a holy place this must have been. We would do well to read these chapters, in order to see the seriousness with which our God takes his worship. For the sake of time and space, let us face the music. We come to ch. 32 only to see our covenant forebears fashioning their golden calf. Calvin is right, you know, we are all idolarum fabricum – idol fabricators. Throughout ch. 32, God and Moses discuss plans for dealing with this rebellious people. I’ll leave it to you to read the rest of the story and feel something of the fear they sensed as Moses returns from the mount, his face too brightly aglow for them to gaze upon, reflecting the terrible glory of a thrice holy God. The issue now at hand was how can a sinful people ever stand in the presence of a holy God.

David faces this same dilemma. As Waltke so vividly observes, “Standing in the deep hole of sin and death, he looked up and saw stars of God’s grace that those who stand in the noon-day brightness of their own righteousness never discern.” Yes, David knew that whatever “noon-day brightness” of his own self-righteousness he could cough up would pale in comparison to the God he had offended. After all, he was “the man” Nathan had cornered with his masterful parable of a rich man, who had flocks and herds, yet stole the one ewe lamb of a poor man. David, outraged and incensed, missed it altogether. He had taken Bathsheba from Uriah, then, in an attempt to cover his tracks, took Uriah from Bathsheba forever. An adulterer and murderer is now face to face with his God. He needs mercy. He cries out for steadfast love. He knew his God. His God had made covenant promise, which could not be broken, and would break forth into forgiving blessings upon the penitent. Do you ever wonder just how a man, like David, guilty of such heinous sin, could still be forgiven? Just think about how much it cost the Lord to pary for his sin, and yours and mine! Look at the cross, and Jesus there humiliated and writhing. That’s how serious sin is.

David’s petition is twofold: “…blot out my transgressions” (v.1b), and “wash me,” “cleanse me” (v. 2). The former, Waltke points out, speaks to the forensic or legal of God’s act of forgiveness. The latter speaks of actually purifying him for readmission to temple worship. Just as David had used three words to describe God’s character, so he now employs three words to define the scope of his rebellion. He was guilty of transgression – pesa, by acting against God’s holy law. He was covered in iniquity – awon, wherein he was guilty. David had sinned – hatta, whereby he fell short of the law’s demands.

Next, David does something we all must do, form time to time – cease our ridiculous excuse-making and lame efforts at self-justification, and just admit we know our sin, it is staring us right in the face (cf., vv. 3-4). Maybe, you are in a place even now, wherein you should draw away from the busyness that so easily distracts and gives you an excuse for not taking inward inventory, and size up your sin. How prevalent, how life-dominating has that old nagging cycle of temptation-resistance-temptation-indulgence become for you, lately? David did not cower in servile fear at the prospect of “unbosoming” himself, as the old Puritans called it. Do you doubt the security of the gospel that allows you to come, caught-red-handed, into the presence of your holy God, to pour out your sinful condition before him?

David acknowledges what we all know to be true. He was conceived in sin (v. 5). Romans isn’t the only book of the Bible to teach our inherited guilt and corruption from Adam. You see, there is actually an “age of accountability,” according to Scripture – it’s the moment of conception! David knows his actions are consistent with his inborn nature, and he wants nothing more to do with either. All that he had done is completely out of keeping with what the Lord wants for him – truth, wisdom, which, according to Ps 111:10, begins with fearing the Lord. Up to this point, David feared not satisfying his sinful cravings more than he had feared the Lord. Have you been there? I have. In that sense, I am very much a man after David’s own heart.

Have you ever read or sung this psalm, and when you get to the part about being “purged with hyssop,” you wonder what that could possibly mean? How does this relate to the only true way of cleansing, namely blood atonement? Well, purging with hyssop points to sacrifice for sin and cleansing, as the leaves of the hyssop branch would soak up the blood of the sacrificial animal and make a good sprinkling device with which the priest would ceremonially dowse the sinner. Far from denying blood atonement, David here shadows its reality.

David wants to be washed as only God can wash him. He will be whiter than snow. This reminds us of the words of the Lord through the prophet, “Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD: ‘though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool’” (Isa 1:18 ESV). Do you ever wish you could start over, clean slate, sort of like a freshly reformatted hardrive, with no smears, sins, or stains? You realize, do you not, that this is exactly your condition before your God? Your soul is white, like snow, holy, spotless. Yes, I know you sin. In fact, you may be struggling with some life-dominating sin, as you read this. Do you want to be clean? Do you believe the Lord can wash all your sins away, as the old gospel song says?

King David has smarted for long enough under the convicting blows of his God. He is ready for joy and gladness (v. 8). He asks that the Lord would turn his face away from his sin. Notice that he did not indicate that the covenant Lord would take his gaze off of him, but away from the ugliness of his rebellion. You can ask that the Lord would turn away his eyes from your sin. In fact, this is one way of speaking of the forensic or legal declaration of forgiveness. But, you know that he will never get over his delight in seeing you, clothed in the righteousness of his Son. After all, you are the “apple of his eye” (Dt 32:10; Ps 17:8; Zech 2:8).

Again, here is not the time or place for a lengthy treatment of every detail of the chapter. But, we have to camp out for a bit at this next verse. Maybe, it is a staple in your own private prayers of confession. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (v 10 ESV). Is this not the essence of repentance? And, notice the good theology here. David knows he needs to be a new creation. He needs his spirit renewed by the Holy Spirit. If you are bearing a load of sin, and guilt, and shame, know that if you are in Christ, you are a new creation (2Co 5:17).

Then, we see a part of David’s prayer that may be rather disconcerting to us, yet we must give it due attention. You ask, is it really necessary that David pray that the Lord would not cast him away, or take the Holy Spirit from him? Well, let’s be sure about this: the believer can not lose his or her salvation. The Bible is abundantly clear on this glorious fact (cf., Jn 10:27-30; Ro 8:28-30; Php 1:6). However, here we see David praying about something our forebears in the faith at the Westminster Assembly described in two places in the Confession:

XVII.III – Nevertheless, they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in tem, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall in to grievous sins; and, for a time, continue therein: whereby they incur God’s displeasure, and grieve his Holy Spirit, come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts, have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded; hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.

XVIII.IV – True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling in to some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God’s withdrawing the light of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light: yet are they never utterly desititute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived; and by the which, in the meantime, they are supported form utter despair.

Old theologians and pastors spoke of “spiritual desertion,” whereby the Lord would withdraw his presence from a habitually sinning believer, in order that they might despair enough of their sin, to return to him. You may wish to pick up a copy of Gisbertus Voetius’ and Johannes Hoornbeeck’s 1659 Spiritual Desertion, recently translated from the Dutch by the Dutch Reformed Translation Society.

I remember when I was a teenager, I went through a tough period of doubting my salvation. No matter how hard I prayed, I still feared that, somehow, I wasn’t saved. I recall speaking with my Daddy about this one day at the service station, where I worked for him. I will never forget his simple, sage advice, “Son, a person can never lose their salvation. But, they can lose the joy of their salvation.” I have, over the years, counseled with brothers and sisters, who struggle with doubting their salvation, or are in a dry, weary place, and wonder if it is all true, anyway. Perhaps, even now, you have lost the joy of your salvation. Imagine what would happen if we, as a church and as individuals made our prayer, “Lord, restore to me the joy of your salvation.” Who knows the gladness and spiritual growth that would be there for us, if we offered this simple prayer from the heart.

As all prayers of confession should, praise is the result – praise because we know that our God is ready, willing, and able to forgives and cleanse, renew, restore. And, all of this is because of the blood shed, not of bulls and goats (Heb 6:9-14), but of the holy Lamb of God. David promises that others will know of the mercy and praiseworthiness of God. He knows that the Lord wants sincere praise from the heart, not outward rituals devoid of sincerity. It’s not that the Lord does not want outward sacrifices. He instituted them! Rather, what David needs at this point, his hands dripping red in murder and adultery, is a heart broken and a tongue loosened to express that humility and trust in the Lord.

Beloved, don’t be afraid of a broken and contrite heart. As C.H. Spurgeon observes:

So excellent is a spirit humbled and mourning for sin, that it is not only a sacrifice, but it has a plurality of excellencies, and is pre-eminently God’s “sacrifices.” “A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” A heart crushed is a fragrant heart. Men contemn those who are contemptible in their own eyes, but the Lord seeth not as man seeth. He despises what men esteem, and values that which they despise. Never yet has God spurned a lowly, weeping penitent, and never will he while God is love, and while Jesus is called the man who receiveth sinners.

Saints, don’t hesitate to develop this kind of heart. This is, as JJ. Stewart Perowne once said, the best thank-offering.” Tenderness, softness, brokenness before the Lord is a rich place to be. Our Lord is safe, good, merciful, longsuffering, committed to restoring us each time we come in penitence.

At last, David turns his thoughts from himself and his own sin, to the city he loved, the city that had been besmirched by his deplorable actions. He prays that the Lord will be merciful to Zion, and will again make it a place where sacrifices are offered to his pleasure and placation. For King David, for you, for me, our God did just that, as Jerusalem saw the precious blood of the Lamb poured out in atonement on that cruel cross. Christ died for God, and God was satisfied with Christ; Christ died to justify God in justifying you and me (Ro 3:21-26).