Genuine Repentance

Psalm 51:3-4

The first two verses in this chapter focused on the mercy that David asked for. We saw in our last article that if we do ask for His forgiveness, He will forgive us. He is full of mercy and wants to restore our relationship, we just have to let Him.

Today we will look at the next two verses. We will see that we must ask for forgiveness with a genuine heart, broken over our sin. God will see right through a fake confession. He knows our hearts better than we do. He knows if we actually want to change or not.

David prays a prayer that shows his true heart. He said, “I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” His sin was all he could think about. It ate away at him for months. The difference is, where he had previously failed to acknowledge it, he finally did. He admitted his sin. instead of darkening his heart further, he opened it up.

The Holy Spirit does a great job of convicting us over our sins, but we must listen. If we feel convicted over our sins and we do not confess and repent we will darken our hearts. It will become like a stone. James even warns us that when our sin is full grown it will kill us (James 1:14-15). Unconfessed sin is a serious thing. We must take it seriously just as David did.

In verse four David writes, “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.” We will look deeper at the first part of this verse shortly, but for now let us focus on the second part. Here David admits again that he realizes he is not worthy of God’s mercy. If God chooses to be merciful than it is an undeserved blessing. If He choses not to, He is blameless. When preaching on this verse, John MacArthur says that David is essentially saying, “If you speak judgment against me, if you judge me for this sin, which would mean death and hell, if I am to be forever separated from you, if this is a damning sin, if this is permanently end for us, you are blameless - you are blameless. This is a confession of his own guilt and it deserves judgment.” Again, David is not claiming he deserves mercy, and he is not trying to take advantage of the mercy he knows God has. He is genuine and he is broken.

But why does David say that he has only sinned against God? Surely Uriah and Bathsheba would disagree with that. After all he slept with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba (and likely didn’t give her much of a choice), and then murdered Uriah. Doesn’t that mean he has also sinned against them?

The answer is no; he has not sinned against them because we cannot sin against man. Sinning is something that is against God and His law. Since He is the One who has established and kept the law, when we sin, we sin against Him. Other people are imperfect sinners just like us. They also cannot keep the law. When we sin then we can (and should) say with David, “against You, You only, have I sinned.”

Joseph is another example of someone who recognized their sin was against God, not man. In Genesis 39, Joseph’s boss’s wife attempts to commit adultery with Joseph. Joseph resists, and in verse nine he tells her, “How could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Yes, it would be a sin against God, but what about his boss, Potiphar? Again, Potiphar is a sinner who cannot keep God’s law, therefore, Joseph could not sin against him. We can only sin against the perfect One and Joseph recognized that.

This certainly does not mean that we don’t need to apologize and seek to restore relationships with others. We do. That is clear all throughout Scripture. Jesus told His disciples we should forgive infinitely (Matthew 18:21-22). David wronged Uriah and Bathsheba. Joseph would have wronged Potiphar if he had actually committed adultery with his wife. But they sinned, or would have sinned, against God alone.

David’s acknowledgement of his sin and recognition that his sin is fully against God is a great example for us. We must acknowledge our sin before Him and confess it. We must recognize that we are hurting the One who loves us most when we sin. We must see that we need to take the step to restore our relationship with our loving Father. We must understand that He is blameless if this is a damning sin. Anytime we are forgiven and restored we must see it as undeserved mercy, not assumed mercy. The amazing thing is, He has abundant mercy and wants us to repent so He can enter back in to a relationship with us!

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