Psalms 51:1-5. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 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. Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
«It is not merely that I have sinned in practice, but I am a sinner by nature. Sin would not have come out of me if it had not first been in me. I am a mass of sin, and must therefore be loathsome in thy sight»
Psalms 51:6-7. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop,
Take the bunch of hyssop as the priests did, dip it into the basin filled with sacrificial blood: «Purge me with hyssop.» Apply the precious blood of Jesus to me,
Psalms 51:7-8. And I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
He feels like a man whose bones are broken, and he asks the Lord, by putting away his sin, to bind up those broken bones till every one of them should sing a song of gratitude to the Divine Healer.
Psalms 51:9-13. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clear heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
«If thou wilt only save me, I will tell everybody about it; I will be a preacher as well as a penitent. Rising from my knees, where I have been confessing my sin, rejoining that thou hast blotted it all out, I will hasten away, and tell to others what a good God thou art, and they will believe my testimony, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Psalms 51:14. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
David had been guilty of the death of Uriah. It is a proof of, his sincerity that he does not mince matters, but calls a spade a spade, and prays, «Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,»
Psalms 51:14. Thou God of my Salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
«I will not only preach, but I will also sing. I will be preceptor as well a preacher. A Christian man can never do too much for the Lord who has so graciously pardoned him. David feels that he cannot do anything aright, either singing or preaching, by himself; so he adds,
Psalms 51:15. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. God cares little for the mere outward forms of worship; Ritualistic observances are nothing to him: «Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.» Though these were the fixed ordinances of the Lord under which David lived, yet he was enabled to look beyond them to something higher and better.
Psalms 51:17-19. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 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.
When we come to God, and are saved by him, then ordinances take their proper place. You cannot teach a man how to live until he is born, and you cannot teach him what his spiritual life is to be until he is born again; all religious rites and ceremonies which precede the new birth go for nothing.
First there must be the inward life, the broken heart, the contrite spirit, and then everything else drops into proper order. Mind this; God help us all to mind it well!