Psalms 51:13-19 - Homilies By C. Short

Working for God.

With a conscience set free from guilt, with a heart renewed by the Spirit of God, and full of thankfulness for God's great mercy, he cannot keep silent, but will seek to turn other sinners to God. The thirty-second psalm shows how this resolution was kept.

I. HE WHO BY HIS EXAMPLE HAD TAUGHT OTHERS TO SIN WILL NOW SEEK TO CONVERT THEM TO THE WAY OF OBEDIENCE . ( Psalms 51:13 .) To the ways of God's commandment. We cannot undo all the evil which our example has done; but we can in part repair it if we renew our lives.

II. DELIVERED FROM HIS SIN , HE WOULD PROCLAIM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN PUNISHING AND DELIVERING HIM . ( Psalms 51:14 .) God is good and righteous in both—in punishing and saving from sin. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

III. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF PARDONED SIN UNCLOSES THE LIPS WHICH SIN HAD SEALED , AND HE CAN NOW TRULY PRAISE GOD . ( Psalms 51:15 .) God opens the lips by giving the sense of forgiveness; then we can preach and sing with a full heart.

IV. THE TRUEST SACRIFICE WE CAN OFFER TO GOD FOR OUR SIN IS REPENTANCE . ( Psalms 51:16 , Psalms 51:17 .) Not blood or burnt offering; the cleansing of the heart by sorrow and renewal of mind—the work of God's Spirit.

V. WHEN A MAN HAS BEEN TRULY RESTORED HIMSELF , HIS SYMPATHIES WIDEN OUT WITH PRAYER FOR THE NATION AND THE WORLD . ( Psalms 51:18 , Psalms 51:19 .) Genuine concern for others is founded upon the regeneration of our own spiritual nature. Zeal for others is spurious if we have not been zealous about ourselves; like those philosophers Cowper speaks of—

"Giving lives to distant worlds,

And trifling in our own."