Understanding True Repentance Through Psalm 51

"Against You and 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." Now there's something here that may cause some consternation in us when we read David's saying, "Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Your sight," because the reality of the matter is that David had not only sinned against God with this transgression, but just think of the people who were involved in this wickedness. [00:00:59]

David sinned against Bathsheba by enticing her into this adulterous relationship and in so doing David sinned against his own wives and against his own children, against his whole family. And not only did he sin against them and against Bathsheba, but he obviously sinned against Uriah and his entire household. He sinned against Uriah's parents, if they were still living, or any of his siblings that may have still been around when they had to mourn the death of Uriah. [00:01:41]

But again, beyond that, David sinned against every one of his soldiers in his army because he's the commander in chief of the armies of Israel and when the commander of chief, for his own private and personal vested interest, puts one of his soldiers at the front line in order to have him killed, he violates every soldier under his command. But even beyond that, David is not only the military commander of Israel, he's the king! [00:02:21]

And as the king, he is accountable before God to rule under what's called in the Old Testament, the "King's Law." The king is supposed to manifest and exhibit the righteous reign of God. He is appointed as a deputy king under the reign of Yahweh and his duty is to act in such a way as a regent, to say, "The way I behave is the way God behaves." And so the people put their trust in their king, and the king now violates their personal trust. [00:02:46]

But here's David eliminating all of these people that he's injured, and he says, "Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned." Now this could be construed as a departure from authentic repentance, an attempt of the person to minimize their guilt in repentance, which is something that we frequently do. Even when we acknowledge our sin we want to say, "It's not a big deal." [00:05:12]

So what is David saying then? What David is understanding is, even -- he clearly understood that sin involves violation of people on the horizontal level, but he understood the biblical principal that where there is no law, there can be no transgression because the very definition of sin is a transgression of the law of God. So that ultimately, sin is not sin unless it is against God, unless it transgresses His law. [00:07:35]

So then in the ultimate sense, even if I injure you in an apparently insignificant way on that horizontal level, I am now offending God in the vertical plain of life. And David is saying, "God, I realize that in the final analysis where I have really offended is not just against Bathsheba, not just against Uriah, not just here in this human arena of human relationships, but where I have been most guilty is in sinning against You." [00:08:09]

And so when he says, "Against Thee and Thee only," he's speaking hyperbolically. He's making that point that he recognizes that his wickedness and his guilt goes to the highest court, to the supreme tribunal of God because in this broken human relationship he's offended the holiness of God. And so that's where he -- that's where he places his emphasis in this act of repentance. [00:08:48]

Now I said this segment is my favorite. It is in the second part of verse four that I find what I call the essence of true repentance. "That You may be found just when You speak and blameless when You judge." And that's a little bit awkward in its expression here, and I've seen other translations render it in different ways, and they all seem to be awkward. [00:09:15]

But when God does that, He doesn't negotiate His justice. What Paul tells us in Romans is the ground of our pardon rests in the work of Christ where God requires two things from Jesus. He requires on the first side, that Jesus pay the penalty due our sins. On the cross we have the most vivid example of God's justice in all of history, where He really does unleash the fullness of His wrath against Christ. [00:12:26]

Once Christ has willingly taken upon Himself, by imputation, our sin, God punishes that sin. God doesn't just say, "Well that's ok. You know, boys will be boys. We'll slide over it." God will not ever compromise His righteousness. And at the same time, God requires from Christ, in order to qualify for the cross in the first place, that He be the lamb without blemish, that He live a life of perfect obedience, perfect righteousness before the Father, without compromise. [00:12:55]

So see what David is doing here is he's confessing his accountability not only for the actual sin but also for his original sin, or his fallen condition, out of which the actual sin emerged. And so he's saying to God, "Forgive me not only for my sins, but forgive me for being a sinner," because we're not sinners because we sin, but rather we sin because we're sinners, and we need to confess our guilt not only for our actions but for that sin nature that we all have out of which our sins flow. [00:21:53]