A Good

CleaningPsalm 51

CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO WHAT?

“Impossible?”

A Good Cleaning

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).

A Good Cleaning

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.

A Good Cleaning

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.

WHAT COMES ABOUT BECAUSE OF A GOOD CLEANING?

REMISSIONREALIZATIONREVELATIONREJOICINGRENEWAL

REMISSIONvv 1-2

A Good Cleaning

“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).

A Good Cleaning

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.

A Good Cleaning

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).

A Good Cleaning

A Good Cleaning

“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?

REALIZATIONvv 3-5

A Good Cleaning

“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).

A Good Cleaning

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).

A Good Cleaning

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).

A Good Cleaning

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.

REVELATIONv 6

A Good Cleaning

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

A Good Cleaning

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).

REJOICINGvv 7-9

A Good Cleaning

“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).

A Good Cleaning

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.

A Good Cleaning

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.

A Good Cleaning

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).

RENEWALvv 10-11

A Good Cleaning

“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).

A Good Cleaning

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).

A Good Cleaning

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?

A Good Cleaning

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?

A Good Cleaning

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”?