Repentance The Path To God

Getting To Where We Need To Be . . .

The Path To God

Psalm 51:1-17


Something Every Sinner Must
Do - (Lk 13:3,5; Acts 17:30)
Something God wants every
sinner to do - (Rom 2:3-6;
2 Peter 3:9)
We Need To Understand The
Nature of True Repentance -


Repentance (Thayer Deﬁnitions) - There are three Greek
words used in the New Testament to denote repentance.

(1.) μεταμέλλομαι – metamellomai - 1) it is a
care to one afterwards . . . (such as to
produce regret or even remorse on account
of sin & can include a change of action,
but not necessarily so). Used with
reference to the repentance of the son
(Mat 21:29), & Judas (Mat 27:3).


Repentance (Thayer Deﬁnitions) - There are three Greek
words used in the New Testament to denote repentance.

(2.) μετανοέω - metanoeō - 1) to change one’s
mind, . . . for better, heartily to amend with
abhorrence of one’s past sins - (Acts 2:38; 8:22)
(3.) μετάνοια – metanoia - 1) a change of mind,
as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose
he has formed or of something he has done
(2 Cor. 7:10)


Repentance Is Not Easy Because It
Requires Radical Change – (Psalm 51:1-17)
Its superscription ascribes the
occasion to David’s sin of
adultery with Bathsheba and
the murder of her husband
Uriah (2 Sam. 11)
Having been confronted with
his sin, David confessed it (2
Sam. 12:13a).


After a believer sins, he must
obtain forgiveness if he is to enjoy
fellowship with God.
The message of this psalm is that
the vilest oﬀender among God’s
people can receive forgiveness, the
resumption of fellowship with
God, if he comes with genuine
repentance.



This Psalm
describes the
attitude of one who
is truly penitent.

Psalm 51:1-17 (NKJV)
1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David
when Nathan the prophet went to him, after
he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy
upon me, O God, According to Your
lovingkindness; According to the multitude
of Your tender mercies, Blot out my
transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from

my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. 3

For I acknowledge my transgressions, And
my sin is always before me.

4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And
done this evil in Your sight-- That You may
be found just when You speak, And
blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was

brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my
mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire

truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden
part You will make me to know wisdom. 7

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me hear joy and gladness, That
the bones You have broken may rejoice. 9

Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out
all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean

heart, O God, And renew a steadfast
spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away

from Your presence, And do not take
Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to

me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold
me by Your generous Spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors
Your ways, And sinners shall be
converted to You. 14 Deliver me from

the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The
God of my salvation, And my tongue
shall sing aloud of Your
righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my

lips, And my mouth shall show forth
Your praise.

16 For You do not desire
sacriﬁce, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt
offering. 17 The sacriﬁces of God

are a broken spirit, A broken and
a contrite heart-- These, O God,
You will not despise.


Pride must be humbled -
Mat 5:3; 1 Pet 5:5,6
Acknowledgment that we
have sinned against God -
Psalm 51:1,2,4; Rom 3:23
Acknowledgment that we
need God’s mercy & help -
Psalm 51:1-17; Prov 14:12


Involves dying to self & living
for Christ - Luke 9:23-25
Walking according to the
Spirit - NOT the ﬂesh - Gal
5:16-26; John 6:63
God’s will should always be
my aim & desire, not my own
- Mat 26:38-44


Recognition –
(i.e. Acknowledgement of Sin)
Remorse -
(i.e. Regret & Grieving Over Sin)
Resolve –
(i.e. A Change of Mind)
Reformation –
(i.e. A Change of Lifestyle)
Restitution –
(i.e. Make Amends As Far As Possible)


Recognition – (Psalm 51:1-4)
Of His Guilt
[1] . . . my transgressions . . .
[2] . . . my iniquity . . . My sin . .
[3] For I acknowledge my
transgressions, And my sin is
always before me. [4] Against You,
You only, have I sinned, And done
this evil in Your sight--


Of His Need
For God’s mercy - vs. 1
His “transgressions” needed to be
blotted out - vs 1
His iniquity needed to be washed
away – vs 2
To be cleansed from his sin – vs 2
His sin was ever present until
forgiven! - vs 3


Of His Only Hope
He had sinned against God,
(Gen. 39:9).
God is just and blameless –
(Psalm 92:15; Rom 2:5)
Appealed to God’s Mercy, &
Lovingkindness – (2 Pet. 3:9;
Eph. 2:1-10)


We Need To Recognize
Our Guilt, Our Need &
Our Only Hope
Recognition of sin comes today
through the word – Acts 2:14-41;
Acts 8:19-24; 2 Tim. 2:24-26;
Heb. 4:12
God grants Time & opportunity
– We must take advantage -
2 Tim 2:25; Acts 2:38; 8:22; 17:30


Remorse – (Psalm 51:3-6)
. . . my sin is always before me. [4]
Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight-- That
You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge. [5]
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
[6] Behold, You desire truth in the
inward parts, And in the hidden part
You will make me to know wisdom.


David was remorseful that he
had sinned against God – (3,4)
Using hyperbole, David
expresses the degree of his
shame, (5)
David is NOT attempting to
shift or minimize his guilt!!
“Total inherited depravity”
NOT taught in this verse!


The Pervasiveness of The False Doctrine
of Inherited Total Depravity
The Catholic church –
leading to the practice of
infant baptism and the
doctrine of the immaculate
conception of Christ .
Most Protestant
Denominations believe &
teach that every person is
born a sinner . . .


Augsburg Confession of Faith (1530), “. . .
all men, born according to nature, are born
with sin, that is, without the fear of God,
without conﬁdence towards God and with
concupiscence, and that this original
disease or ﬂaw is truly a sin, bringing
condemnation and also eternal death to
those who are not reborn through baptism
and the Holy Spirit” (Article II).


Westminster Confession: "They being
the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin
was imputed, and the same death in sin and
corrupted nature conveyed to all their
posterity descending from them by
ordinary generation. From this original
corruption, whereby we are utterly
indisposed, disabled, and made wholly
inclined to all evil, do proceed all
actual transgressions."


BKC - 51:5-6. David then
acknowledged that he was morally
impotent. He was born a sinner, that is,
at no time in his life was he without sin.


BKC - 51:5-6. David then
acknowledged that he was morally
impotent. He was born a sinner, that is,
at no time in his life was he without sin.
JFB - 5, 6. His guilt was aggravated by his
essential, native sinfulness, which is as
contrary to God's requisitions of inward
purity as are outward sins to those for
right conduct.


Adam Clarke – “I believe
David to speak here of what is
commonly called original sin;
the propensity to evil which
every man brings into the
world with him, and which is
the fruitful source whence all
transgression proceeds.”


Matthew Henry – “And the truly
penitent will ever trace back the
streams of actual sin to the fountain
of original depravity. He confesses
his original corruption. This is that
foolishness which is bound in the
heart of a child, that proneness to evil,
and that backwardness to good, . . .”


Barnes - “The object of this important
verse is to express the deep sense which
David had of his depravity. That sense
was derived from the fact that this was
not a sudden thought, or a mere outward
act, or an oﬀence committed under the
inﬂuence of strong temptation, but that
it was the result of an entire corruption
of his nature - . . .”


“. . . of a deep depravity of heart,
running back to the very
commencement of his being. The idea
is, that he could not have committed
this oﬀence unless he had been
thoroughly corrupt, and always corrupt.
The sin was as heinous and aggravated
“as if ” in his very conception and birth
there had been nothing but depravity.


“. . . He looked at his, sin, . . . and he
inferred that the one demonstrated that in
the other there was no good thing, no
tendency to goodness, no germ of goodness,
but that there was evil, and only evil; . . . the
design is to express his deep sense of his own
depravity; a depravity so deep as to
demonstrate that it must have had its origin
in the very beginning of his existence. . . .


“The idea is simply that he was “born” in
iniquity; or that he was a sinner when he
was born; or that his sin could be traced
back to his very birth . . . And in sin did
my mother conceive me - . . . This
language simply traces his sin back to the
time when he began to exist. The idea is,
“as soon as I began to exist I was a
sinner; . . .”


(NIV) Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my
mother conceived me.
(GW) Indeed, I was born guilty. I was a sinner when my
mother conceived me.
(Holman Christian Standard Bible) Indeed, I was guilty when
I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
(Good News Bible) - I have been evil from the day I was
born; from the time I was conceived, I have been sinful.
(Contemporary English Version) - I have sinned and done
wrong since the day I was born.


Psalm 51:5 Part of Speech: noun masculine
(NKJV) Hyperbole – emphasizing his shame – (cf.
Behold, I Job 31:18; Ps. 58:3; 1 Tim. 1:15) - (I was born in
was brought a hospital bed and in a bed my mother conceived
forth in me – but that does not make me a bed!!)
iniquity, And
The environment was corrupt –But that
in sin my
mother was no excuse – for God made David
conceived upright but he sought out many devices –
me. vs. 6; Eccl. 7:29; Zec. 12:1; Acts 17:26-28


Psalm 51:5 Constitutionally, we have the same
(NKJV)
nature as Adam before the fall!
Behold, I
was brought
✴ Born neither sinful or righteous,
forth in without knowledge of good and evil
iniquity, And (Deut. 1:38; Isa. 7:15; Rom. 9:11)
in sin my ✴ Born innocent – we DO N OT inherit
mother
guilt of sin!! - (Ezek. 18:20-32; Mt.
conceived
me. 18:1-6; 19:14; Rom. 7:9)


Psalm 51:5 Born with the capacity to grow in knowledge
(NKJV) and ability to choose good and refuse evil
Behold, I (Lk. 2:40, 52; Isa. 7:15; Mt. 19:20; Lk. 18:21;
was brought 15:29-31)
forth in All men by the exercise of their will and
iniquity, And voluntary acts of “disobedience” “have sinned”
in sin my – i.e. violated God’s law; Those who sin are
mother “dead in their sins” and under God’s wrath
conceived and condemnation, “by nature children of
me. wrath” (Rom. 7:9; 3:23; 1 John 3:4; Eph. 2:1-3)


David’s Desire – (Psalm 51:7-14)
For God’s Cleansing
vs 7 - Purge me with hyssop, and I
shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow.
For God’s Healing
[8] Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may
rejoice. [9] Hide Your face from my
sins, And blot out all my iniquities.


For God’s Renewal
[10] Create in me a clean heart, O
God, And renew a steadfast spirit
within me.
For God’s Fellowship
[11] Do not cast me away from Your
presence, And do not take Your Holy
Spirit from me.


For God’s Restoration
[12] Restore to me the joy of
Your salvation, And uphold me
by Your generous Spirit.
For God’s Deliverance
[14] Deliver me from the guilt of
bloodshed, O God, The God of
my salvation,


David’s Resolve – (Psalm 51:7-12)
I Will Teach
[13] Then I will teach transgressors
Your ways, And sinners shall be
converted to You.
I Will Sing
[14] . . . And my tongue shall sing aloud
of Your righteousness.
I Will Praise
[15] O Lord, open my lips, And my
mouth shall show forth Your praise.


David’s Resolve – (Psalm 51:7-12)
I Surrender –
[16] For You do not desire sacrifice,
or else I would give it; You do not
delight in burnt offering.
[17] The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit, A broken and a
contrite heart-- These, O God,
You will not despise.


Have you come to recognize sin
in your life?
Are you remorseful over the sin
in your life?
Do you desire to be right with
God, to receive His forgiveness,
deliverance & restoration
Then resolve to serve Him &
surrender to His will TODAY!


Something Every Sinner
Must Do - (Lk 13:3,5;
Acts 2:38; 8:22; 17:30)
Something God wants
every sinner to do -
(Rom 2:3-6; 2 Peter 3:9)


My hearts desire is that
each & every person
here experiences the
mercy & lovingkindness
of the Lord!


Charts by Don McClain
Prepared February 1,2, , 2013
Preached February 3, 2013
West 65th Street church of Christ
P.O. Box 190062
Little Rock AR 72219
501-568-1062
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Email – donmcclain@sbcglobal.net
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2 Corinthians 7:7–12 (NKJV)
7 and not only by his coming, but also

by the consolation with which he was
comforted in you, when he told us of
your earnest desire, your mourning,
your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even
more. 8 For even if I made you sorry

with my letter, I do not regret it; though
I did regret it. For I perceive that the
same epistle made you sorry, though
only for a while.

9 Now I rejoice, not that you were
made sorry, but that your sorrow led
to repentance. For you were made
sorry in a godly manner, that you
might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10

For godly sorrow produces repentance
leading to salvation, not to be
regretted; but the sorrow of the world
produces death.

11 For observe this very thing, that you
sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence
it produced in you, what clearing of
yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what
vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication!
In all things you proved yourselves to be clear
in this matter. 12 Therefore, although I wrote

to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who
had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him
who suffered wrong, but that our care for you
in the sight of God might appear to you.

Repentance The Path To God

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Repentance The Path To God