Psalm 51 God's plan for restoring a clean heart
King David's plea for mercy, forgiveness and cleansing. Restoration.
In 1997 Timothy McVeigh was convicted of bombing the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. During the trial one of McVeigh’s old army friends testified in court and made a revealing observation about human nature.
According to Jo Thomas in the New York Times, the friend said, “I’d known Tim for quite a while. If you don’t consider what happened in Oklahoma, Tim is a good person.”
Most of us have a similar outlook on ourselves as we consider the prospect of standing before the Judge of all the earth someday. No, we likely have not been found guilty of murder, but we can downplay our sins and judge ourselves by what we have done right. We think, If this or that isn’t taken into account, I’m a good person.
The problem for us is that these failings of ours are gravely serious in the sight of a holy God, whose standard is perfect righteousness. He does not overlook any sin. Without a Savior, every person faces eternal judgment.
“God’s plan for restoring a clean heart.”
5320 “Benefit Of Clergy”
Psalm 51:1–4 saved more than 800,000 people from execution between 1350 and 1841. Any criminal under sentence of death could plead the “benefit of clergy” by reading the four verses. If he was unable to read, he was out-of-luck.
5707 How Heavy Is Sin?
A flippant youth asked a preacher, “You say that unsaved people carry a weight of sin. I feel nothing. How heavy is sin? Is it ten pounds? Eighty pounds?” The preacher replied by asking the youth, “If you laid a four-hundred-pound weight on a corpse, would it feel the load?” The youth replied, “It would feel nothing, because it is dead.” The preacher concluded, “That spirit, too, is indeed dead which feels no load of sin or is indifferent to its burden and flippant about its presence.” The youth was silenced!
“God’s plan for restoring a clean heart.”
King David was a man with a clean heart...
I. Recognize how low you can go! (v 1-3)
“God’s plan for restoring a clean heart.”
David recognized how low he had sunk (v 1-3)
The despair of a sinful saint (v 1-3)
5723 “All Is Discovered”
There is a tradition to the effect that Noel Coward sent identical notes to the twenty most prominent men in London, saying, “All is discovered. Escape while you can.”
All twenty abruptly left the town.
5320 “Benefit Of Clergy”
Psalm 51:1–4 saved more than 800,000 people from execution between 1350 and 1841. Any criminal under sentence of death could plead the “benefit of clergy” by reading the four verses. If he was unable to read, he was out-of-luck.
Psalm 51:1–4 saved more than 800,000 people from execution between 1350 and 1841. Any criminal under sentence of death could plead the “benefit of clergy” by reading the four verses. If he was unable to read, he was out-of-luck.
II. Recognize it’s your fault not God’s! (v 4-6)
III. Recognize God’s power to cleanse! (7-12)
IV. Recognize you can serve again! (v 13-15)
V. Recognize it’s who you are not what you do that results in a clean heart! (v 16-19)
Conclusion
Conclusion
Conclusion
King David was a good man but like all of us he sometimes made the wrong choices.
5320 “Benefit Of Clergy”
Psalm 51:1–4 saved more than 800,000 people from execution between 1350 and 1841. Any criminal under sentence of death could plead the “benefit of clergy” by reading the four verses. If he was unable to read, he was out-of-luck.