The Heart of the Matter

Pt.7 on Psalm 51 - David's prayer of repentance (and a good one for us, too)
What we've seen so far is that the heart of the matter is that to the core of my being, down to the embryonic me - I need God's love, compassion, cleansing, and restoration. And, it is to that level that God plans and provides for our cleansing and forgiveness.

Psalm 51 says sin is very real. Be very ashamed. If you're guilty, there's nothing wrong with feeling guilty. It isn't just a bad emotion, it's a proper response to guilt.
It also says, the proper response to guilt and shame is to go to God sincerely acknowledging your failure and seeking His cleansing (you won't find it anywhere else).
And finally it says, you will find cleansing in Him. He desires to not only forgive, but to thoroughly cleanse-to the very core of your being. Not only that, He will take you deeper into Him providing salvation, intimate relationship, knowledge, wisdom, and ultimately joy, rejoicing and praise. 
David continues in vs.14 - "Deliver me from bloodguiltiness." After all that's been said, he's still begging for forgiveness. He certainly didn't flippantly say, "You're right, Nathan, I sinned. Lord, forgive me. Okay, I'm good." He was hurting and struggling deeply in his heart to find forgiveness. He did not presume on God's grace and goodness. Numerous songs have been written through the years based on Ps.51:10-13, I believe because of the hope of forgiveness received expressed in those verses. We stop there. David went on, still pleading for deliverance.

This final plea for forgiveness is an important one. Sin is a matter of the heart. As a physical organ, it is deep in the chest, in the "center" of the person, as it were. It is a symbol of the innermost being. Furthermore, when the blood is poured out, so is life. The "life is in the blood" and so in the Levitical sacrifice the blood was not to be consumed, but to be poured out on the altar for the forgiveness of sins. So, if sin is a matter of man's innermost being not following the will of God, if it is a matter of the heart, then it should be of little wonder that the wage of sin is death. It goes to the core of the man, his heart, and consumes the life, pollutes the blood.*

So, David's plea is basically, Deliver me completely-to my core, my heart. Filter the impurity of sin from my very blood. Don't let it flow through me any longer. Wash me. Filter my blood with the blood of the Lamb. When I know that level of cleansing, when I grasp that dimension of your love, joy will come and it overflow in song as I declare that it is Your righteousness that flows through me. Let Your blood course through my spiritual veins and replace sin with righteousness.

God's forgiveness brings joy, and joy takes expression in praise. So David continues, "Lord, open my lips...." Guilt shuts our mouth in misery, depression and solitude. But there are people around who still need to hear the Good News. Shame, and fear of shame, can keep us from talking. "What if I speak and then fail? Or even worse, what if they learn of my past failures?"  True forgiveness, the salvation that God provides, eliminates that fear and shame. It is exactly what we need to be proclaiming to the lost and dying world around us. "Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise."

"For." Why? Because (for) it is a broken and contrite heart that God won't despise. It is true sacrifice that He seeks. Without that, religion is just empty ritual. "Sin" has become a non-word, void of any real meaning. We either use it as a club to bludgeon people into feeling guilt. Or, we go to far the other way avoid even talking about it. We watch TV and movies and laugh at the humor of the situations in which the characters find themselves and shrug off the immoral relationships in which they are depicted.

As a result, salvation means nothing. On the one hand, we have many Christians who are so caught up in law and rules, they don't understand grace, and are every bit in bondage to a morality to which they cannot accede as the ancient Hebrews were. They call themselves Christians, but are modern day Pharisees. On the other hand, we have people call themselves "Christian," but aren't the least bit concerned about the areas of immorality that still characterize their lives. Pop-psychology of the 60's and 70's is the norm of many modern churches: "I'm OK, you're OK." There is no guilt. Guilt is just a bad emotion we need to learn to deal with and put aside. It isn't "sin" because right and wrong are relative, there are no moral absolutes. That's just being judgmental or "phobic."

David knew the reality of sin, guilt and shame. He also knew the reality of a God who not only was able to make him clean, to forgive him, to remove guilt and shame and restore him to joy, but actually desired to do so. He also knew that what God wills to do, He will do.

He concludes with a reference to Zion - Jerusalem, and the restoration of "righteous sacrifices." For us, Jerusalem is "The Lord Our Righteousness" - Yhwh Tsidkenu (Jeremiah 33:16). His righteousness is our dwelling place.

It is also our "starting place." Acts 1:8 says we are to be His witnesses, starting in Jerusalem and going to the uttermost parts of the earth. Spiritually speaking, I think it is also our heart - the Holy City, as it were - "right here," my dwelling place, where I am right now. It is my innermost being, my heart, where I long for Christ (who is my wisdom and righteousness) to dwell, to be at home. It is here that true worship takes place - in the very core of me. All the sacrifices for atonement, including the passover Lamb, culminate here. Christ in me is my hope of glory (Col.1:27). It is the summing up of all things in the heavens and things on the earth in Christ. In Him, we have obtained an inheritance with the Holy Spirit as the irrevocable earnest of that inheritance (Eph.1:10-14). And so we are admonished to "keep seeking the things above, where Christ is.... Set your affections on things above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col.3:1-3).

God is, and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Have you experienced God's forgiveness at this level? Have you found that God really does desire to forgive and cleanse? Without sharing details of your sin, feel free to share your insights into God's grace and forgiveness.