Authentic Prayer: Confessing
Psalm 51:1-19
One of the lowest points of Israel’s history has to be the story of when King David committed adultery and murder. It’s tragic. Horrifying. He sleeps with Uriah’s wife, and then when she gets pregnant he has Uriah killed to cover it up.
But then God sends Nathan to David, and God uses Nathan’s words to convict David of his sin. So there’s David, feeling the guilt of his sin; feeling the weight of his sin; feeling the seriousness of his sin.
And what David does at that point is what we all should do when God convicts us of sin – David confesses his sin to God. To see how he does this, let’s turn to Psalm 51. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we’ll bring one to you. Psalm 51 is on page 474 in the Bibles we are passing out. In this psalm we can listen in on how David confesses his sin to God.
But before we go through the whole psalm, let’s ask a first question -- Why is it so important to confess our sin to God? You can see why in vv.1-2. Notice that in these verses David asks God to do four things:
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
Now it sounds like at the moment David is praying he’s thinking that he has not yet received God’s mercy for that sin; he has not yet had that sin blotted out; he has not yet been cleansed from that sin. And that he must pray to receive these things. And that if he does not pray he might not receive these things.
Is that true? Let’s say that this morning you turned from trusting God and lied to someone. If you don’t confess that to God, might God not have mercy on you? Might God not blot out your transgression? Might God not wash and cleanse you from your sin? If you have been following Jesus for a while, and have read your Bible, you should feel sort of torn at this point.
On the one hand, you know that if you are trusting Jesus Christ, then His death has purchased and secured forgiveness for all your sins, past, present, and future. You can see that in Romans 4:7-8, where Paul is talking about those who are trusting Jesus --
7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."
So if you are trusting Jesus then His death has purchased and secured forgiveness for all your sin, past, present, and future.
But on the other hand, Jesus taught us to pray: “forgive us our trespasses,” which sounds like we need to ask in order to be forgiven. And in I John 1:9 we read that if – if -- we confess our sins, then Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So if we don’t confess our sins, then we won’t be forgiven or cleansed.
So how do we put these together? I think it’s something like this: if you are trusting Jesus then His death has purchased and secured forgiveness for all your sins – past, present, and future. But the way to receive that forgiveness, the way to have that forgiveness applied to you, is by confessing your sin to God.
Think of it like this. When you trust Jesus Christ then His death deposits in your bank account all the forgiveness for all your sins. It’s there. It’s been purchased. It’s in your account. It’s yours for the taking. And the way you take it is by confessing your sin. It’s when you confess your sin that you actually receive and experience forgiveness.
But what if I forget to confess some sin? If you are trusting Jesus, that won’t happen, because you’ve received the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will convict you of your sin so you can confess it.
And what if I don’t want to confess it? If you are trusting Jesus, that won’t happen either, because the saving work He has started in your heart will make you want to confess your sins. If you have experienced His saving work, He will regularly convict you of sin; and you will regularly confess sin; and as a result you will regularly receive and experience forgiveness for sin.
The wonder of the Cross is that Jesus has purchased all the forgiveness we will ever need. It’s there for the asking. You don’t need to earn it, you can’t ever merit it, you don’t need to do penance to gain it. It’s there for the asking. But you must ask. That’s why it’s so important to confess our sin to God.
So how do we confess our sin? As I studied Psalm 51 I saw four main parts of confession.
First, plead to God for mercy. I see that in vv.1-2 --
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
There’s only two approaches to confession. One is merit – where you try to merit forgiveness from God, by reminding him of all the good things you have done, or by doing some sort of penance. But God will never forgive you if you come to him on the basis of merit.
The other approach is mercy – which is what David does in v.1 – where he asks for God’s mercy, God’s steadfast love, God’s abundant mercy. When you confess sin, start by pleading to God for mercy. See that you have no merit in yourself. See yourself as needing mercy.
And the good news is that God loves to give mercy. The Old Testament believers knew that God was merciful, but they did not know how he could be merciful, because they lived before the coming of the Messiah. But we today can understand how God can be merciful, because we can look back on the coming of Jesus the Messiah. We know that God can be merciful to us, because He punished Jesus in our place for our sin.
So when you confess sin, start by pleading to God for mercy. Get rid of any ideas of merit. Humble yourself as someone in need of mercy. Set your heart on the Cross, see what Jesus has suffered for you, and plead for God’s mercy.
A second part is to actually confess to God your sin. We can learn a lot from how David does this in vv.3-6.
First, David calls sin “sin.” Look at v.3 –
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
David does not talk about “my mistakes,” or “my weaknesses,” or “my flubs.” No. In v.3 David calls it “my transgressions” and “my sin.” Call it what it is. It’s sin.
Second, David sees his sin as evil against God which deserves God’s judgment. Yes, he sinned against Bathsheba. And against Uriah. That was terrible. But what was even more terrible is that he sinned against an infinitely good and holy and loving God who promised to satisfy him and care for him forever. Look at how David puts that in v.4 --
4 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.
So David admits that God is justified and blameless in calling David’s sin “sin,” and in requiring that it be punished.
Third, David admits that sin is part of his nature. You can see that in vv.5-6 --
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
David admits that his problem is not just occasional sin actions; his problem is a sin nature. He is a sinful man. But then in v.6 he rests in God’s power which can set him free from his sin nature --
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
A third part of confession is: ask God to forgive, cleanse, and restore you. In vv.7-12 David asks God to do a number of things.
V.7 – Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
When you sin, it defiles you. Your heart and mind become unclean. And so David is asking God to do a supernatural work of cleansing. (“Hyssop” was a branch that was used in Old Testament ceremonies to sprinkle offerings.) So when you have sinned, specifically ask Jesus to wash you clean from sin’s defilement.
V.8 -- Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
When you sin, it separates you from the joy of knowing and feeling God’s nearness. So part of confession is asking God to bring back your joy and gladness in knowing Him.
V.9 -- Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
When I sin, God sees my sins and iniquities. But because of Jesus, I can be forgiven. So part of confession is asking God to forgive me – pictured as hiding his face from my sin, and blotting out all my iniquities.
V.10 -- Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
This is similar to v.7 – asking God to cleanse us from sin’s defilement.
V.11 -- Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
When I sin against God, I deserve to be cast from His presence. I deserve to never again experience His loving presence by the Holy Spirit. So part of confession is asking God to not do to me what I deserve.
V.12 -- Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
That’s similar to v.8. A crucial part of confessing sin is asking God to bring back your joy and gladness in knowing Him – since this will strengthen your spirit.
A fourth part of confession is give God reasons for what you are asking Him to do. All through the psalms we see that prayer involves giving God reasons for why He should do what we are asking. We’ll talk more about that in the weeks to come. But I would encourage you to follow David’s example, and give God reasons for why He should answer your requests. Look at the reasons David gives in vv.13-19 –
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
In other words: forgive, restore, and cleanse me, because then I will be able to help people come to know You.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
In other words: forgive, restore, and cleanse me, because then I will be able to praise You.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
In other words: forgive, restore, and cleanse me, because my heart is broken and contrite.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
In other words: forgive, restore, and cleanse me, because then Israel will be strengthened as I lead her in worship.
Now one last question – why is David’s confession so long? I would guess that many of you, when the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, your confession consists of something as short as “I’m sorry, please forgive me.”
But when David confesses sin, he takes 19 verses – a chunk of time. Why so long? I think it’s because he wants to pray and confess his sins until he starts to receive the things he’s asking for.
Remember – if you are trusting Jesus then His death has purchased and secured forgiveness for all your sin. It’s in the bank. It’s yours. But it’s only given to you – it’s only applied to you -- when you actually set aside time to confess.
So when you set aside time to confess sin, you will experience forgiveness – the weight of God’s displeasure will lift from you. You will feel freedom and cleansing – as He washes you from the defiling effects of sin and creates a new heart in you. You will have the joy of His presence restored – as His loving presence is felt again.
So be quick to confess. And give time to confession. And you will experience the joy of forgiveness again and again and again.