Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Psalm 51:1-12 (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.
Yesterday, the sermon touched on an important theme in Galatians: Justification. This legal term is important for understanding the mission of Jesus. In Psalm 51 verse 4, we hear that God is justified in His judgments and verse 5 says that we are sinful from the moment of conception. This idea of being “born into sin” goes deeper than simple immorality. From the moment of conception, we are, simply put, not God. But for the rest of our lives we act like we are! So, in our efforts to be our own gods, we seek to justify ourselves. We might say, “I’m a good person, why would God send me to hell”? Or, “I have worked hard all my life, I deserve _____”. (Fill in your own blank). Yet, when faced with the cross, we are utterly unjustifiable in light of God’s “unfailing love” and “great compassion”. Praise the Lord!