Psalms 51:15

_THEN WILL I TEACH TRANSGRESSORS THY WAYS; AND SINNERS SHALL BE CONVERTED UNTO THEE._ -He promises spiritual sacrifices of praise, and efforts for the conversion of other transgressors, as the fruit of his being restored to the joy of salvation. For though works do not justify, the justified man is sure to work. God works in the evidences of faith. So in Psalms 54:6, but especially in the parallel psalm, he passes from his own blessedness in experienced pardon to 'teaching others God's way' of peace,-namely, God pardoning all who heartily confess their sins (Psalms 32:8). As here, in Psalms 51:1, he promises to do so, so in Psalms 32:1

7-15 Purge me with hyssop, with the blood of Christ applied to my soul by a lively faith, as the water of purification was sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop. The blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling, Hebrews 12:24. If this blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, cleanse us from our sin, then we shall be clean indeed, Hebrews 10:2. He asks not to be comforted, till he is first cleansed; if sin, the bitter root of sorrow, be taken away, he can pray in faith, Let me have a well-grounded peace, of thy creating, so that the bones broken by convictions may rejoice, may be comforted. Hide thy face from my sins; blot out all mine iniquities out of thy book; blot them out, as a cloud is blotted out and dispelled by the beams of the sun. And the believer desires renewal to holiness as much as the joy of...

Verse Psalms 51:15. _O LORD, OPEN THOU MY LIPS_] My heart is believing unto righteousness; give me thy peace, that my tongue may make confession unto salvation. He could not praise God for pardon till he felt that God had pardoned him; then his lips would be opened, and his tongue would show forth the praise of his Redeemer....

O LORD, OPEN THOU MY LIPS - That is, by taking away my guilt; by giving me evidence that my sins are forgiven; by taking this burden from me, and filling my heart with the joy of pardon. The original word is in the future tense, but the meaning is well expressed in our common translation. There was, in fact, at the same time a confident expectation that God “would” thus open his lips, and a desire that he should do it. AND MY MOUTH SHALL SHOW FORTH THY PRAISE - Or, I will praise thee. Praise is the natural expression of the feelings when the sense of sin is removed....

EXPOSITION THIS is the first of a series of fifteen psalms assigned by their titles to David, and mostly attached to special circumstances in his life, which are said to have furnished the occasions for their composition. The school of writers which brushes aside the "titles" as unauthorized and unhistorical, and so regards itself as wholly free to assign to any psalm any date and any author that it prefers, places this among post-Captivity compositions, especially on account of Psalms 51:18, Psalms 51:19 (so Professor Cheyne, Dr. Robertson Smith, the Four Friends, and others). Those, on the contrary, who consider the "titles" to be_ _entitled to regard and respect, even if not absolutely authoritative,_ _find either nothing in the psalm unsuitable to David's t

O LORD, OPEN THOU MY LIPS,.... The Targum adds, "in the late"; which were shut with a sense of sin, with shame of it, and sorrow for it; and though they were in some measure opened in prayer to God for the forgiveness of it, as appears by various petitions in this psalm, yet he still wanted a free spirit and boldness at the throne of grace, which the believer has when his heart is sprinkled from an evil conscience by the blood of Christ; and especially his lips were shut as to praise and thanksgiving; the guilt of sin had sealed up his lips, that he could not sing the praises of God as he had formerly done; and only a discovery of pardoning grace could open them, and for this he prays: AND MY MOUTH SHALL SHOW FORTH THY PRAISE: the praise of his mercy, grace, goodness, truth, and faithfulness, in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; see Psalms 103:1....

There are many sweet notes in Christian music, but to my own heart there is none so softly, tenderly, sweet as the note of repentance. Full assurance rings out her clarion trumpet strain, and we ought to be able to send it forth, but sometimes we are unable. Conquest over sin gives us Miriam's timbrel to dance to, and it is well; but for everyday use commends me to the harp-strings of penitence. We ought always to be able to play on those strings. They always befit our guilty fingers. They are always sweet to the ear of the Most High. Mr. Rowland Hill used to say that there was one friend of his whom he could not take to heaven, and whom he thought he should regret to leave, and that was sweet repentance. I suppose when God wipes every tear from our eyes we shall not be able to weep for sin, but until then: «Lord, let me weep for naught but sin, And after none but thee; And then I wou...

Psalms 51 The Confession _ 1. Conviction and prayer for forgiveness (Psalms 51:1)_ 2. Prayer for cleansing and restoration (Psalms 51:9) 3. Blood guiltiness acknowledged (Psalms 51:14) 4. Prayer for Zion (Psalms 51:18) This great penitential Psalm, according to the inscription, was the outburst of confession and repentance of David when Nathan had uncovered his sin. Well has it been said, “So profound a conviction of sin, so deep and unfeigned a penitence, so true a confession, a heart so tender, so contrite, a de

LI. A PENITENTIAL PSALM. Psalms 51:1. Prayer for pardon and inward renewal. Psalms 51:13. A promise to proclaim God's mercy and bring sinners back to Him. Psalms 51:18 f. Prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem, which will make sacrifice possible and popular once more. The Ps. was not written by David, and still less by David after his double sin of murder and adultery. How could David have said, Against thee, thee only, have I sinned? Besides, the Ps. shows the influence of exilic and post-exilic literature. The mention of the Holy Spirit occurs here only and Isaiah 63:10 in the so-called Third Is

LORD *. Jehovah. App-4. One of the 134 alterations of the _Sopherim._ App-32....