Remember these three words, transgression, iniquity, and sin. And David says in Psalm 32, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Iniquity, transgression, and sin. George Whitefield, a preacher from the 1700s, some say the greatest preacher since the apostles. I wouldn't argue against that. He made this statement. He said, a man has never repented until he's repented of his sin, his sins, and his righteousness. Now, I want you to think about that as we consider these three words, sin, S-I-N. Sin has to do with my nature, a sinful nature. And that's what David was speaking of when he said, my sin is ever before me. It's always before me, continually before me, perpetually before me. There's no time when it's not before me. My sinful nature. That's what John was speaking of in I John 1, verse 8, when he said, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. We have no credibility. If we can't say from our heart before God, my sin is ever before me. Transgressions. That's the second word. First John chapter three verse four says, sin is the transgression of the law. It's the breaking of God's holy law. When I lie, I'm transgressing the law. When I covet, I'm transgressing the law. I make myself dirty, transgressing God's holy law. That's what a transgression is. It's the breaking of God's law. Read the Ten Commandments. Listen to me, I've not kept one commandment one time, and neither have you. His commandment is so broad, and transgression is the breaking of God's holy law. Iniquity, what is iniquity? Well, let me read you a passage of scripture from Exodus chapter 28, verse 38, where Aaron was called upon to bear the iniquity of the holy things of the children of Israel. Iniquity is the good things. It's the perversity of my righteousness. It's my, anything I do, it's iniquity. Didn't Isaiah say our righteousnesses? That's the good things. Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Sin, transgression, and iniquity. I hope God has given us all some understanding of these three things in ourselves. And I hope that this psalm is going to be our favorite psalm, and we'll enter in to what King David is saying. Now, look at the title. Turn back to Psalm 51. Look at the title. And these titles are inspired. These are not just given by the translators. These are inspired of God. Now look at the title. To the chief musician, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Now, let's read about this event in 2 Samuel chapter 11. 2 Samuel chapter 11. And it came to pass. You know, I love that term in the scripture. God purposed it, it came to pass. You can say that of everything. It came to pass. This was all a part of God's purpose. And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all of Israel. And they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabab, but David tarried still at Jerusalem. He was supposed to be out battling, but he tarried still at Jerusalem." Now remember, this is David, the man after God's own heart. What a description God gives of this man. His heart beats with mine. This is the sweet psalmist of Israel, David. King David. And it came to pass, now we have that phrase again. And it came to pass, In an eveningtide, the David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself. And the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman, and one said, Is not this Bathsheba? The daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Now, Uriah the Hittite was one of David's 300 mighty men that we read of in 2 Samuel. I can't remember if it's 22 or 23, but he was a very faithful man, a fine man as we read the way he conducts himself during this event. And David, verse four, sent messengers and took her. What an abuse of power. This man was a powerful man, most powerful man on the earth, as far as that goes, at that time. The scripture actually says, the fear of David came upon every nation. So he could do whatever he wanted to do. And through this terrible abuse of power, he comes and takes this woman. If he said, go get her, they had to obey him. And that's exactly what took place. And David sent messengers, and took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her. For she was purified from her uncleanness. And she returned unto her house, and the woman conceived, and sent, and told David, and said, I am with child. And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. Now this is his attempt at a cover-up. He'll thought, I'll get her in. He'll think the child belongs to him. I'll get him in right now. And he brings him in. And Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did and how the people did and how the war was prospered, as if he cared at this time. He's just trying to make everything look good. He's so deceitful at this time. And David said to Uriah, go down to thy house and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. He refused to go down to his house. And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down into his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? Why then didst thou not go down into thine house? And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel and Judah abide in tents. And my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go into my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As thou livest and as I so liveth, I'll not do this thing." He was far too honorable for this. He said, I can't go into my wife's house while all my comrades are in the fields fighting the Lord's battle. Verse 12, and David said to Uriah, Terry here today also and tomorrow I'll let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day and tomorrow. And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him and he made him drunk. I guess he thought maybe that would get him to go to his wife. And even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his Lord and went down to his house. And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. Now, I want you to think about this. He gives this man Uriah a message to Joab with regard to his own execution and death. And he knew Uriah was such a faithful man that he would never open the letter. So he gives him this letter that's ordering his death. And Uriah faithfully takes the letter, not daring to open it to give it to Joab. Verse 14, And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten and die. Premeditated, cold-blooded murder. That's all it is. How heartless. How cruel. And it came to pass when Joab observed the city that he assigned Uriah into a place where he knew that the valiant men were. And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab, and there fell some of the people of the servants of David. And Uriah the Hittite died also. Then Joab sent You know, David even implicated somebody else in his crime. He got Joab to do his dirty deeds. And I'm sure Joab never looked at him the same. Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war, and he charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matter of the war unto the king, and if it so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approach ye so nigh unto the city, when ye did fight? Know ye not that they would shoot from the wall? Whose motive Bimelech, the son of Jerubisheth, did not a woman cast a piece of millstone upon him from the wall, and he died in Thebes? And why went ye nigh the wall? Then say thou, thy servant, Uriah, is dead also. That's why we went to the wall, in obedience to your command to put this man to death. So the messenger went, verse 22, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for. And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate. And the shooter shot from off the wall upon thy servants, and some of the king's servants be dead. Really, he killed more than Uriah, didn't he? He killed a number of people in order to make sure Uriah was dead. And thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee. For the sword devoureth one as well as another. Make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it, and encourage thou him. What a hypocrite. And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when the morning was passed, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife and bare him a son." Many months have passed, maybe a full year. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. This takes place maybe anywhere between nine months and a year after this event. And the Lord sent Nathan, chapter 12, and the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him and said unto him, there were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing. save one little ewe lamb, which he had brought up and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children. And it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock, or of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was coming to him. But he took the poor man's lamb that he loved so much, ate at his table, treated this little ewe lamb like his own daughter. He took him, flew him, and they had that little lamb for dinner. Verse 5, And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, And he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die, and he shall restore the Lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, thou art the man. You know, we can see sin in others clearly, can't we? David said, this man deserves to die. And he hears this statement from Nathan the prophet, thou art the man. And David wrote Psalm 51. He was brought down. I don't know how hard hearted he was before this took place. but it was brought down, and he wrote Psalm 51. Now let's look at this special Psalm together. To the chief musician, the Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet had come unto him, after he had gone into Bathsheba, have mercy upon me, Oh God, according to thy loving kindness, according to your grace. I can't find a reason in me. I have been guilty of murder. I've been guilty of implicating others in my murder. I've been guilty of adultery. I've been guilty of grotesque hypocrisy. I have no reason in myself as to why you would have mercy on me." Now, that is David's plea. Now, somebody says, can a believer do something that bad? A real born-again believer, born of the Spirit of God, was David a believer? He was a man after God's own heart. You know, when we ask a question like that, first thing I think of, haven't you ever read the Bible? You can't get any information like that from the Bible. I mean, look at David. He's an example of many. And if we ask that question, we demonstrate very little understanding of the treachery of our own heart. Jeremiah said the heart is deceitful. above all things, desperately, incurably wicked. Who can know it? David didn't have anything else to plea, but have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according to your grace. Now this is a, what is the grace of God? The best way you and I can understand the grace of God is if we understand it in light of the attributes of God, the character of God. God is holy. His grace is holy. God is eternal. His grace is eternal. God is just and righteous. His grace is just and righteous. God is independent. He doesn't need me to do something before He can do something for me. God's grace is His independent grace. God is sovereign. His grace is sovereign grace. Every attribute of God describes the grace of God, and that's the grace I need to save me. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness. according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies." Your compassions. You know, when that leper came to the Lord worshiping him, falling at his feet, he said, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. And the Scripture says the Lord moved with compassion. reached forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. He didn't come saying, Lord, I will that you make me clean. Why, such would have been blasphemous. But Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Have mercy upon me according to thy tender compassion. He says, blot out my transgressions. Erase them. Exterminate them. Make them to where they never took place. Now, what I think is so interesting about this psalm is I counted 20 different things David asked the Lord to do about his sin. You might want to go back tonight or sometime this week and see if you can find those 20 things. But here's the point. When you see you can't do anything about your sin, that's when you ask the Lord to do something about it. Blot out. Exterminate. Make not to be my transgressions. And that's what the Lord did on the cross. He made my transgressions to not be. You see, I stand before God. And anybody that Christ died for stands before God having never sinned. Perfectly justified in God's sight. He says in verse 2, Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Now there, he deals with those three things, my sin, my transgression, and my iniquity. Verse three, for I acknowledge my transgressions. Now this is what the confession of sin is. I take sides with God against myself. I acknowledge my transgressions. I don't try to hide them. Turn with me to Proverbs 28 for just a moment. Proverbs 28. If you have a King James Bible, this will be helpful. Proverbs 28, verse 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper. Isn't that what Adam did? He tried to cover his sins with that covering he made up. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh. Now I want you to notice the image in italics. That means it was put there by the translators, and it's not really in the original, because if you read it with them, it almost sounds like you're not going to get mercy unless you can first forsake all your sins and quit committing them. But them is in italics. Whoso confesseth, I acknowledge my transgressions, and forsakes this thing of trying to cover them. Coming into God's presence in honesty. No guile. Now this is what David is doing when he says, I acknowledge my transgressions. I'm not trying to hide them, I'm not trying to cover them. By the grace of God, we already read there in Psalm 32, one and two, blesses he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blesses the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile. The only way you're showing no guile is by coming before God as you really are, full of sin. And that's how David is coming. I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever, nonstop, perpetually, continually before me. My sinful nature, I always feel its breath. Always. Verse four. Against thee, The only have I sinned. Now what about Uriah? What about Bathsheba? What about Joab? What about those other guys that got killed when you had them come up to the wall? Yet what does he say? Against thee and 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. Now, when somebody comes into God's presence, they justify God for whatever he does. If you pass me by, and do not extend your mercy to me, just and holy is thy name. Whatever you do is right. You know, when people are always calling into question God's fairness, how could God be fair to let this happen and let that happen? How could it be fair for him to elect some and not elect everybody? How could it be fair for Christ to only die for some and not die for everybody? And always calling into question God's fairness. You've never confessed your sin before God. You see, when you confess your sin, you acknowledge, shall not the judge of the earth do right? Whatever he does is right. And then he says in verse 5, behold, I was shapen in iniquity. I was born bad. In sin did my mother conceive me. That's not talking about his mother and some kind of sexual sin. That's how he was born. He said, I was born bad. I was born evil. The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go about as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Do you know you were born that way? You came out of the womb. I came out of the womb evil. Evil. bad to the bone. David realized that. Do I? Do you? You see, the scripture says in Adam all die. When he sinned, I sinned in him. He died spiritually, I died in him, I'm born into this world with his spiritually dead nature. And he understood this. He says in verse 6, Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Now what's he talking about? the hidden part and the inward parts. That's where I'll be made to know wisdom. That's where I'll have an appreciation of the truth. Well, isn't that talking about the hidden man of the heart? You see, the new birth was just as real in the Old Testament as it was in the New Testament. This is talking about the new man, the new heart that he gives, the hidden man of the heart. I love the way Peter describes it, the hidden man of the heart. You know why he describes it as the hidden man of the heart? Because he can't see it. He knows it's there. He believes it's there, but he can't see it. Can you see a holy nature? Of course you can't. Do you have one? If you're a believer, you do. Can you go, well, that part's holy. No, everything's coming out of this one personality. this one man, but you have these two natures in one man. And he said the only way you'll understand truth is in the hidden man of the heart, the new man that he gives. He says in verse seven, purge me with hyssop. Now what's hyssop? Hyssop is the branch that was used to dip into the blood of the paschal lamb and put it over the doorpost. Now, we just sang, or did we? Yeah, we just sang, I guess my favorite hymn. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. I love the story of the Passover. God said you put blood over that door, the lintel and the doorpost. And when I see the blood. What was God looking for? He didn't say when I see your faith. He didn't say when I see your sincerity. He didn't say when I see your repentance. He didn't say when I see anything about you. He said when I see the blood. That's the one thing He was looking for. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Now, what if someone that very day had committed murder, literally, and he was in that house with the blood over the door? Was he safe? Absolutely. As a matter of fact, If you want to know what murder means, everybody that was in there had committed murder that day. If you look at what the Lord said about murder in Matthew chapter 5, how to be angry at your brother without a cause or to call your brother a fool or a vain fellow, a wrecker. There was nothing but murderers in there. But God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's what he's talking about when he says, purge me with hyssop. I'll be clean. And that word clean, that's the same word used to describe the cleansing of the leper. In Leviticus chapter 13, a man when he was completely covered with leprosy, he didn't have one square inch of healthy flesh. When he came and presented himself to the priest, You know what the priest pronounced him? Clean. If he had one square inch of healthy flesh, quick flesh, living flesh that was not affected by, I'm mostly clean. I got to send him back to the leper colony. If he had any clean flesh, any goodness, send him back. But when he was completely covered with leprosy, the priest pronounced him clean. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, I shall be whiter than snow. All these sins that I've committed, I'll be as pure as the driven snow, if you wash me. That's the power of His blood. It makes me whiter than snow. In God's sight, Holy, Paul said in Colossians 1.22, and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. And how he sees things is how they are. If I'm holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight, it's because I am in fact holy and unblameable and unreprovable, washed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse eight, make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Did you know that you and I can't even hear the gospel unless he makes us to do it? And if he enables us to do it. And the only time I can enter in is when he gives me those hearing ears. He that hath hearing ears, let him hear. You know what the next verse says? Then came all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. You know, you can't even hear the gospel unless you hear as a sinner. If you hear as a critic and a judge, you won't get anything. But if you hear as a sinner, oh, how joyful the sound of the gospel would be to you. And he says, I can't hear except you enable me to hear. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Now, don't even look about. How can He hide His face? How can He not see my iniquities? Because covered in the blood of Christ, there's nothing there. Their sins and their iniquities, I remember no more. Now God's got a very good memory. And the only way he could forget them is if there's nothing there to remember. And that's what David is asking. I don't want to be looked on any way but in Christ. Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. That's the only way I want to be saved. Hide thy face from my sins. And here he asks again, blot out all mine iniquities. Now, earlier, he said, blot out my transgressions, the bad stuff. Blot out my iniquities, the good stuff. I need it all blotted out. Now, this, when I was thinking about him asking both to blot out, I'm gonna read something that Charles Spurgeon said, and he says it better than I could ever say it, so let me read this to you. Charles Spurgeon said, and remember the iniquities and transgressions, the iniquities, the good things, the transgressions, the bad things. Listen to Charles Spurgeon. I have not the shadow of a shade of a ghost of a confidence as to my ultimate salvation except in Jesus Christ alone. And one reason why I dare not have any confidence except in Him is that I don't know anything I ever did or ever thought or ever was in which I could confide. So I'm driven to trust in Him and in Him alone. I lie at the foot of His cross because I cannot stand upright. I must do that, for like Luther, I can do no other. If I search myself and my whole life over again and again, I cannot see anything but that I call a filthy rag and fling it all away. Good works and bad works, iniquities and transgressions, so far as mine are concerned, are not worthy the trouble of sorting out, so I tie them all up in one bundle and pitch them overboard and just cling to the ever-blessed life-boy of the merits of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. Isn't that good? Verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Mine is filthy, I can't make it clean. Would you make my creative act of omnipotence create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. My spirit is wrong. Verse 11, cast me not away from thy presence. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Now wait a minute, David. Don't you believe in the eternal security of God's elect? David's talking about how he felt. And he felt like, I've so grieved and quenched God the Holy Spirit, that I deserve to be cast away. And that he'd be taken from me. So don't cast me away. Don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. I've lost it. restore it to me. I won't have it unless you do it. And uphold me with thy free spirit. Now, notice with thy as in italics, what uphold me with a willing spirit. That's what the word free means, a willing spirit. Make me willing. I don't want to go through life as a hating to do what I'm made to do. I'm afraid I'll get in trouble if I don't. No, I want to have a willing spirit. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Volunteers in the day of thy power. Make me willing. Then, verse 13, will I treat transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Now, first way I want to remember that is every psalm is Christ speaking first. You say, well, how could he be talking about his sins? Well, my sins so truly became his sins that he owned them as his own throughout the Psalms. That's in there so many times. And he's the only one who can teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. But I think David is also saying this. Enable me to preach your gospel. And people just like me, sinners, shall be converted to Thee. Somebody once said preaching is one beggar telling another beggar where he got bread. And that's what David is saying. Sinners shall be converted to Thee. Deliver me, verse 14, from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness." Now, what is this blood guiltiness? Well, they murdered Uriah and several others, but that's not what this is talking about. This is talking about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. I had a part in that. Now, somebody says, I didn't have a part in that. I wasn't even around when it happened. You would have. And that's what God sees. And really the only way you and I can really see how bad we are is in light of the cross. Not in light of the murders and the, the light of the cross tells us what we really are. That's, that's how bad I am. And he says, deliver me from blood guiltiness. Oh God, thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness, righteous grace. A way that glorifies God's justice. How He's just and justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. It's righteous grace. It honors God. Don't you love His righteous grace? It's not unclean grace. It's all righteous. Oh Lord, verse 15, open now my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. I can't even praise him unless he enables me to. I'm aware of that. Lord, open my lips. They'll stay closed unless you open them. And my mouth shall show forth thy praise for thy desire is not sacrifice. Else would I give it. Now delight us not in burnt offerings. Now you think of the millions and millions of animals that were slain. The morning and the evening sacrifice, every day for thousands of years. All the different sacrifices, just millions of animals. They never pleased God. They pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what they were for. And God was never pleased with any of them. Look what he says. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken spirit. And to contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Can you drink out of a broken glass? No. Go away. Can you work with a broken arm? No. There's one thing that is at its best state when broken, and that is the heart. Now, what is this broken heart? A heart that's broken can't work. It doesn't work and it is not capable of working. It's not capable of earning God's salvation. That's the broken heart. Your heart can get broken over a boy or a girl or bad things in life. That's not what this is talking about. This is talking about a heart that's broken. It doesn't work. It can't work. It can't be saved by its works. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Not working. There remaineth the rest. for the people of God, for he that's entered into his rest hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Have you seen that salvation, if any part of salvation is dependent upon you first doing something, you can't be saved. That's a broken heart. And that's God's work. If you have a broken heart, God broke your heart. Thank him for it. You wouldn't believe without it. 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. Don't talk of, David wasn't thinking, well, I'm gonna start doing this. No, he's asking the Lord to do something. You do good. I can't do good. You do good. Do good in thy good pleasure according to thy sovereign will and design. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. If we build them, they'll come crumbling down again. You do the building for our protection and our security. Then, when you do good, When you build the walls, then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and with whole burnt offerings. Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. You see, the sacrifices will be pleasing. One last thought. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. It pleased him. He never was pleased with these animal sacrifices. They never did a thing. But it pleased the Lord to bruise him. You see, that's his eternal purpose. To bruise his son, to tell us who he is, to manifest himself, and to save his people from their sins. Aren't you thankful for Psalm 51? I hope it'll be a favorite of all of us, but I hope every psalm we read is our favorite psalm as well. Amen.