Repent
September 1, 2021September 1, 2021
Repent
Psalm 51 David’s plea for mercy, forgiveness, and cleansing. This should be our hearts cry to God, we want to live clean pure lives. We all have sinned and come short or missed the mark. We thank God for his grace, we thank God for his love, compassion, and faithfulness toward us. However, we should not practice sin. It is one thing to fall short, make a wrong move, bad decision—-God is faithful and just to forgive us for our sins. We are not condemned but this does not mean that we choose to violate God’s instructions for our lives. We cannot say with our mouth we choose God, we desire God, we worship God and yet live according to our own desires. Willful sin and disobedience to God is still wrong. It’s not okay regardless to who is doing it, irrespective of who approves of it.
Our Salvation through Jesus and God’s grace is not a license to sin. Grace is what enables us to obey God through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. God has so graciously given us free will, the freedom to choose. Choose who we partner with. Do you choose to partner with light/good/pure/God or do you choose to partner with dark/evil/unclean/wicked/devil? Make day to day decisions based on your choice. The thing about choices is that there are consequences so as you live your life make decisions based on your choice and the consequences.
When you choose to obey God the consequence is the blessings of God. Our Father is so merciful that He rains (blesses) the just and the unjust. The thing about blessings is that there are right now blessings and there are eternal blessings. So you may see people live wicked lives and have tremendous blessings, this is the grace, goodness, and patience of God. We have to train our minds to think in terms of not only now what we experience today, but to think in terms of eternity.
The ultimate blessing is where you spend eternity. You can decide to live reckless and disregard God, while enjoying your ‘blessings’ now. But then, what about eternity. The choices and decisions you make today, will determine your future—-your future is eternity. Choose wisely, decide to partner with Jesus, enjoy the blessings of today and your future throughout eternity. Search your heart, think about your choices, decisions. God loves you and wants you to partner with him not with evil.
Repent-to feel or express sincere regret or remorse about your wrong doing/thinking or sin; to turn from sin and change your mind. I like to think of repent as a Godly sorrow, recognizing your wrong and making up your mind to correct that to change it, to agree to do right out of love and respect for God.
Read and study Psalm 51 and apply it to your life. I want you to make it personal as you study it. Really dig down deep, search your heart, search your thoughts and let this Word of God cleanse and strengthen you. I pray that you have a desire to study the Bible for yourself. I pray that you invite the Holy Spirit to lead you, and guide you as you choose to search the scripture. You do not need to be spoon fed and passively read what someone else has shared. This is great and helps us to grow however, it should not replace your personal time and attention seeking God. I pray that you develop a hunger and thirst for the things of God and an intimacy where you know Jesus as your Friend; that you become a friend of God. I pray that as you study Biblical scripture you will experience the transforming power of the Word of God, that you see the deep love of God for you, that you receive the Word with gladness and apply it to every area of your life. I pray that as you grow in the knowledge of God that you become a strong bold witness for Jesus. That you grow in the faith of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That you remain mindful of the presence of the Holy Spirit, within you. I pray that the Father give you wisdom in the name of Jesus I pray.
Psalm 51 (NIV)
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Psalm 51 KJV
51 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
Notes:
Here are some notes on Psalm 51 from Life Application Study Bible
51:1-7 David was truly sorry for his adultery with Bath-sheba and for murdering her husband to cover it up. David knew his action had hurt many people. But because David repented of those sins, God mercifully forgave him. No sin is too great to be forgiven. Do you feel that you could never come close to God because you have done something terrible? God can and will forgive you of any sin. While God forgives us, however, he does not always erase the natural consequences of our sin—David’s life and family were never the same as a result of his sin (see 2 Samuel 12:1-23).
51:4 Although David sinned with Bath-sheba, he said he had sinned against God. When someone steals, murders, or slanders, it is against someone else—-a victim. According to the world’s standards, extra-marital sex between two consenting adults is acceptable if nobody gets hurt. But people do get hurt in David’s case, a man was murdered and a baby died. All sin hurts us and others, but ultimately it offends God because sin in any form is a rebellion against God’s way of living. When you are tempted to do wrong, remember that you will be sinning against God. That may help you stay on the right track.
51:7 Hyssop branches were used by the Israelites (God’s people) to place the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their homes to keep them safe from death (Exodus 12:22). By this act (God’s instructions) the Israelites showed their faith and secured their release from slavery in Egypt. This verse calls for cleansing from sin and readiness to serve the Lord.
51:10 Because we are born as sinners (vs.5), our natural inclination is to please ourselves rather than God. David followed that inclination when he took another man’s wife. We also follow it when we sin in any way. Like David, we must ask God to cleanse us from within (v.7), filling our hearts and spirits with new thoughts and desires. Right conduct can come only from a clean heart and spirit. Ask God to create in you’re a clean heart and a right spirit.
51:12 Do you ever feel stagnant in your faith, as if you are just going through the motions? Has sin driven a wedge between your and God, making him seem distant? David felt this way. He had sinned with Bath-sheba and had just been confronted by Nathan the prophet. In his prayer to God he cried, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” God wants us to be close to him and to experience his full and complete life. But sin that remains unconfessed makes such intimacy impossible. Confess your sin to God. You may still have to face some earthly consequences as David did, but God will give back the joy of your relationship with him.
51:13 When god forgives our sin and restores us to a relationship with him, we want to reach out ot others who need this forgiveness and reconciliation. The more you have felt God’s forgiveness, the more you desire to tell others about it.
51:17 God want a broken and contrite heart. You can never please God by outward actions—no matter how good—if your inward heart attitude is not right. Are you sorry for your sin? Do you genuinely intend to stop? God is pleased by this kind of humility.
Side bar note: As I type this out these notes from my Bible which was in a blazing car fire where all I could see were orange flames. The large body Dodge Durango was totally destroyed and everything in it but God got me out of the vehicle and away from it within seconds of it being consumed into flames. Seconds. When they asked me if I had anything valuable in the vehicle I replied, “Yes. My Bible is on the front seat”. The fire chief apologized and said “Everything in that vehicle is destroyed. You see the flames all the way thru it” and I did see the blazing flames. When they extinguished the fire and invited me to look inside, all the doors were open and sitting there on my charred, melted front seat was this Bible, wet and smelled like smoke but Glory to God not a page was singed, undamaged. This was a few years ago in Maumee, Ohio. As I picked up my Bible and starred at it in awe of God, the crowd around me felt the ‘Glory’, just like I did. Thank you Lord Jesus! All hail King Jesus!
