Psalm 51 Forgiveness
Leviticus says in several places, “Be holy even as I am holy.”
Jesus said in Matthew 5: “Be perfect even as your heavenly father is perfect.”
And yet, when we compare our holiness and our perfection with God’s holiness and His perfection, we fall way short on a daily basis.
Be holy as God, and being perfect as God is a high standard.
We continue to come to church on Sundays, or whenever the doors are open, and the guilt we feel because we fall short in holiness and perfection, we take home with us. We ought not to do that.
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
(Take 1 minute of silence, and think of one thing you have done to separate you from God. Your one big lie to God.)
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5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
>>7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Communion
Before we take communion, let’s take a moment to examine ourselves of the sins that so easily beset us. Confess them to God, Repent of them, ask for forgiveness, and leave them at the cross.
He has forgiven you.
Your sins have been cast into the sea of forgetfulness. Don’t try to fish them back out, leave them there.
Matthew 26:26-28
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus went to the cross, shed his blood, and died for the forgiveness of your sins. As you take communion this morning, take it with thanksgiving and appreciation for what Jesus did for you on the cross.