It is given to us in four simple words: “Purge me with hyssop”. I believe that these are the four most important words in this entire psalm, though they are the least understood.
would God let him continue in sin? most certainly not. he was longsuffering. he waited 9 months for david to repent which he did not.
God did a most wonderful thing in his heart: conviction.
For the sins of intentional murder and adultery, death is the inevitable judgment. David knew that; he knew the only way of escape from facing this penalty is through the forgiveness of sin, and the only way he could receive forgiveness is through mercy. So he cried out, “Have mercy upon me, O God.”
We cannot come to God on the basis of justice. Justice would demand that you and I be judged accordingly. We cannot come before God on the basis of wisdom. The more we know about God and ourselves and our sinfulness, the more we will be stricken with fear. The reason why we dare to approach God and dare to hope for reconciliation is because of mercy.
Once, there was a lawyer who represented a client for a criminal case. His client was trembling with fear. The lawyer saw his client shaking, and so he said to him, ‘Do not be afraid; I will make sure you receive justice.’ His client cried out, ‘Justice is not what I want; I want mercy. I want mercy.’
Perhaps you have committed a terrible sin, a sin that you are so ashamed of, and you are wondering, will God forgive me? Will He be merciful to me? Or you have sinned and repented, and then you sin again and repented, and then you sin again. You have received so much of God's mercy already. You are so miserable, you are so fearful. Will God's patience be exhausted? Will His mercies be overspent? Yesterday, I asked for His mercy; today, I ask for His mercy again. Will there come an end where I will no longer receive God's mercy?
God's attributes are perfect and infinite. They cannot be exhausted. You and I should not fear to approach God to plead for mercy. We should be fearful if we do not come to Him and plead for mercy
David knew that murder and adultery were a perversion, a distortion, a twisting of God's moral law, yet he did it anyway. The word transgression means to cross a forbidden boundary, and it is a serious rebellion. That is what we have done each time we sin; we cross this forbidden boundary set for us by God's Word, and it is a serious rebellion.
One of the biggest problems with the world today is that people no longer want to acknowledge sin as sin. People come up with all kinds of definitions to make themselves feel better. Drug addiction, alcoholic addiction, gambling addiction, sex addiction are not acknowledged as sins; they are known as social diseases. If they are diseases, that means you are sick, and if you are sick, it is not your fault. You are just in that situation; it just so happens that you are caught up in that situation. You do not need to go to the Saviour because it is not a sin. So you need to go to the secular counsellor; you need to go to the psychologist and so forth. That is just how subtle this evil world system is, and we must never succumb to it. You and I must acknowledge sin as sin because the Bible says so.
David was well aware that he had sinned, and the moment he was confronted, it doesn't matter even if he was the king because he was convicted by the Spirit of God.
it is only because of our relationship with God that we understand our neighbour is made in the image of God. So when David sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, he was sinning against the individuals who were made in God's image. Ultimately, he was accountable to God who created those individuals. That was the reason why David said, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.”
Verse five, David said, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." It does not mean that David was born out of an adulterous affair; he was not. He was not putting the blame on his mother. David was confessing and taking full responsibility for his sins. He was confessing that there was never a moment in his entire life when he was not a sinner. David did not say, ‘Well, I'm basically a good person. It was only this one time, only a moment of weakness.’ But rather, he said in all honesty, ‘This is really what I am. This is my character. This is something deeply rooted in my nature. This is my DNA, so to speak, in our modern language. I am born a sinner.’
Dear friend, if we want to confess our sins, we must take full responsibility for our sins. We must not confess our sins and then with the same mouth, put the blame on someone else—our wives, our husbands, or our children, ‘Oh, it was all because of them. That was why I've sinned.’
We must never confess our sins and then try to minimise our responsibilities. It will never be accepted. True confession is when you and I take full responsibility and acknowledge in our hearts, ‘I'm a sinner. I have sinned against God in this matter. Have mercy upon me, oh God. Have mercy upon me.’
Here, God desires the inward purity because it is the inward purity that would influence the outward purity. If you want to deal with sin, you have to deal with the root problem, and the root problem is the heart. If you have an issue with lust or if you have an issue with anger, pride, greed, jealousy, or envy, is it not a heart issue? Most certainly, you have to deal with the heart. The only way is to fill your heart with God's truth, which is able to transform your life and make you wise. Then you will be able to live a godly life. That is the reason why David said God desires this inward purity, that His people inwardly would be influenced by His truth. And when you are inwardly pure, then it will manifest this purity outwardly. God sees everything, whether inwardly or outwardly. He desires His people to be pure.