The Nature and Possibility of Forgiveness

Psalm 51:1-2

I. The Forgiveness of Sins is an article of the Creed. It has its place in the short summary of great truths in which we profess as Christians to believe. Note the significance of this fact. We do not express our belief in what is obvious: the things we believe are truths which God has made known to us, that men did not and could not find out for themselves.

II. Now this consideration does not at all fit in, you will recognize, with the way in which a great many people speak and think about the Forgiveness of Sins. This they regard as the most obvious thing in the world, it is to their mind perfectly natural and easy, something to be taken for granted rather than treated as a subject of Christian revelation and belief. What we call moral evil may after all only be a step, in many cases a necessary step, upward to goodness. We must have some experience of evil before we can choose goodness, so they argue.

III. Now against any such light view of sin as this, however plausibly it may be urged, a healthy conscience protests as fallacious. We recognize sin to be something more than a mistake in the sphere of morals. A mistake indeed it is, egregious folly, missing the true end of our life, supposing that to be valuable which is really worthless or hurtful, but it is a mistake for which we are, in part at least, responsible. It is by our own great fault that we have sinned.

IV. It is well worth while to note that there is a great deal in modern thought to confirm these protests of conscience, a great deal that is utterly opposed to the popular and easy regard of sin. Note two points:—

(a) We are learning to recognize increasingly the reign of law. Things are as they are, not by chance, but as the expression of unfailing laws. This applies to the sphere of morals as well as to the material universe. God's commandments are not arbitrarily laid down.

(b) There is the law of habit as well as the law of retribution. There are those who would say, any restoration is impossible. Heredity, environment, and habit are too strong.

V. Here comes in the Christian religion declaring that these things are possible, however difficult. And the Christian Church points to instances of men and women, individuals and communities in whose experience this promise has been realized. The forgiveness of sins, then, though difficult, has been made possible.

VI. From what has been said you will recognize that (a) While forgiveness is not the easy thing that popular religion often represents it, (b) It is at the same time something far grander, much more worthy of God to bestow, of man to seek. Forgiveness contains two elements. It is no mere letting off of punishments or remitting of debt. It is restoration as well as acquittal.

References.—LI. 1, 2.—A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester (2nd Series), p. 95. LI. 3.—J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons (2nd Series), p. 310. J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes (1st Series), p. 42. Bishop Alexander, Bampton Lectures, 1876, p. 71. A. C. Tait, Lessons for School Life, p. 249. LI. 3, etc.—A. B. Davidson, Waiting Upon God, p. 55. LI. 3.—J. H. Jellett, The Elder Son, p. 254. J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, part i. p. 188.

Sin Against God

Psalm 51:4

This fifty-first Psalm reveals a human soul in its agony, convicted of sin, and flinging itself on the eternal mercy of God. It belongs to all the centuries, and as long as men struggle with temptation and fall beneath the burden of sin will it voice their need of pardon and their hope in God.

I. The truth on which this Psalmist laid hold was the fact that sin is a breach of the Divine order, a transgression of the Divine law, and that whatever may be said or thought about its effects in the sphere of human relations, it is essentially rebellion against that holy will which rules over all. We sin against God in every act of evil, because it is His law we break and His will we oppose.

II. This truth that sin is against God does not move us as it ought to do, largely, I think, for two reasons.

(a) We feel the insignificance of our lives compared to the life of God. When we think of God we are overwhelmed by his infinitude. And though perhaps we dare not give expression to the thought, we feel in our hearts that our sin cannot be of much importance to one so great. And sometimes there comes the half-suppressed thought that He Who cannot fall, and who knows nothing of weakness or sin, ought not to judge mortals like ourselves.

(b) We do feel that our sins, if they hurt anyone, injure ourselves and our fellows. We feel and many say that in the past men have said too much about sin against God, and have overlooked the fact that it is man who is hurt.

III. We are no longer moved by the thought of 'Moral Governor of the universe' as men were once. We do not deny that God is that. But for the reasons I have given it does not exert the same influence on us as in the past. And, after all, it is not the deepest truth about God. We must come to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ before we can say from our hearts, knowing and realizing to the full, all the social consequences of our wrongdoing. The cross of Jesus means many things, but it means this above all, that God is in the world, and that our sin touches Him, that it wounds Him and that He suffers.

The Psalm of the Penitent

Psalm 51:4

There is nothing surprising about David's sin: there is something very wonderful in his penitence.

I. There is the simple confession, 'I have sinned'. It is comparatively seldom that a man makes this confession without qualification or reserve. It is a great day for a man when, for a moment, seeing himself in the light of God, seeing his own imperfections, his own sinfulness, whatever it may be, he can cast aside the vain excuses by which he has tried, like Adam, to hide himself among the trees of the garden, and, in deep self-abasement, can make the open confession, 'I will arise and go unto My Father,' and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned before Heaven and against Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son'. It is a rough path, which must be trodden with bleeding feet, but the way is homewards, Godwards, and the end is peace.

II. But let us notice the peculiar nature of the sin which the Psalmist confesses. It is an offence, so it would seem, not so much against God as his fellow-men, and yet his words are emphatic. 'Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.' We are accustomed to the service of man being set in opposition or contrast to the service of God. The Psalmist looks deeper. He has learnt the great truth that he can only honour man by honouring the Divine element in him, that in injuring man he has injured Him who is the only source of man's greatness. This is the truth which the Incarnation has brought, or ought to have brought, much nearer to us than it was to David, 'Inasmuch as ye did it unto these, ye did it unto Me.'

—H. R. Gamble, Christianity and Common Life, p. 85.

References.—LI. 4.—E. B. Pusey, Cambridge Lent Sermons, 1864, p. 163. J. J. Blunt, Plain Sermons, p. 72. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii. No. 86. LI. 5.—Bishop Magee, Sermons at the Octagon Chapel, Bath, p. 1.

Inward Truth

Psalm 51:6

We in this country profess a great love of truth in the shape of integrity, verbal trustworthiness, and so on; our standard is not very exacting, but we could not get on at all without it. One has to confess that the standard of the world—though, thank God, it is better than it once was—is still very low. You cannot measure a man's motives by what he says; he may take the name of God upon his lips though in his heart he is not true.

I. The issue lies deeper than a mere question, for instance, of discount on a bill. We say after long acquaintance with an individual 'So and so is a true man; I have proved him'. Why do you use the word true? Because you know something about that man though it might not be considered proof in a court of law. You have been down to the depths of your friend's being, and you know he rings true, because more than once he has been willing to suffer for truth, the world not knowing. On the other hand, we know men who we feel are false though we cannot always say why; and here again our evidence in a court of law would be nonsuited. There are men whom you would not trust any further than you can see them; you know somehow by instinct of honest judgment, that these men would fail you in a crisis; they could be depended on just as far as it suited their interest and no further. A man who is as faithful in the shadow as in the light, as faithful when it does not pay to be faithful at the time as when it does—that is the man to whom to commit your trust; he was right with God ere he was right with you; and if it came to be a question whether he should sacrifice you or truth—truth as Spurgeon understood it—it would be God he would choose, not you.

II. I would just indicate wherein really consists the greatest value in all estimates of moral character. It is not merely a question of dealing between man and man. If we had nothing to preach about except iniquity, our pulpit message would be a poor one; I mean unequity, by which a man does not deal straight with his fellows. It is sin with which we have to do—this is a man's transgressions against God, the thing that hides God from him. When you are dealing with iniquity you are really dealing at the same time with another factor deeper than any of the relations which a man holds with his fellows, and that is his relationship with God. It is with God, when we come to real dealings with truth, that you and I hold relation.

III. One word of application. If I address a man of double life, a man with something evil huddled out of sight, I would like to speak to him, not a word of threatening denunciation, but of pity and of pleading. If your life is a lie it would pay you better—I announce no penalty—to get right with the truth, however much it may scorch you, than to persist in the lie that seems to screen you. The truth and the truth only will make a man at peace with himself. You may stifle the voice of conscience, but the voice of God will speak again in time or in eternity—'Thou art the man'.

—R. J. Campbell, Sermons Addressed to Individuals, p. 315.

Sincerity

Psalm 51:6

God's insistence on sincerity.

I. A Threefold Cause of Insincerity.

(a) It is always a hard thing to be sincere. One cause of this is the fierce struggle for existence now. For one soul that has a passion for sincerity there are a hundred that have a passion for success.

(b) It is harder to be sincere because of the increasing power of common standards. There never was a time when the thought of the many was so quickly voiced and registered. In the tremendous pressure of a general opinion it is harder for a man to be himself.

(c) But perhaps the deepest cause of insincerity is this, that we are living in a transition time. Here in one pew a father and son are sitting; and though the father may never dream of it there is the space of centuries between the two.

II. A Threefold Curse of Insincerity.

(a) It takes all the dignity out of the heart of life, and makes this world a very mean place.

(b) But insincerity carries another curse. I hardly think that there is any sin that mars and distorts the character like this.

(c) And the third curse is this. No sin so surely saps and undermines our influence. Once let man feel that I am insincere and all my influence for good, and all my influence for God is gone.

III. The Path to a Renewed Sincerity.

(a) We must win a deeper reverence for ourselves. We must believe in individual possibilities. We must remember that there are no nobodies with God.

(b) Then we must win a profounder faith in God. I defy any man to be consciously insincere who lives under those eyes that are a flame of fire.

(c) We must gain a closer fellowship with Christ. There is a lack of sincerity today. But do not let that blind us to the fact that sincerity is not the only virtue I am not necessarily good. I am not necessarily right. I am not necessarily saved because I am sincere. There is a call for new sincerity in every heart, yet that sincerity is but a stepping-stone. Sincerity without humility is but a bastard virtue. It is the obstinacy out of which fools are made.

—G. H. Morrison, Flood-Tide, p. 22.

References.—LI. 6.—J. Keble, Village Sermons on the Baptismal Service, p. 125. LI.—J. Knox, Little Manchester Sermons, p. 125. F. W. Farrar, In the Days of Thy Youth, p. 358. F. D. Maurice, Sermons in Country Churches, p. 190.

Psalm 51:7

Probably the northernmost grave on the surface of the earth is one made for a member of the expedition of Sir George Nares to the Arctic Sea, in the ship Alert. It is near Cape Beechy, on the brow of a hill covered with snow, and commanding a view of crowded masses of ice which stretch away into the mysterious Northern Ocean, where, hung like a lamp over the door of the unknown, shines the polar star. A large stone covers the dead, and, on a copper tablet at the head, the words are engraved, 'Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow'.

Verse 18. The first presbytery of the Irish Presbyterian Church was constituted by immigrants from Scotland, in Carrickfergus, 10 June, 1642. There were five ministers and as many elders. The sermon was from Psalm 51:18, 'Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem'. Two hundred years afterwards, in 1842, every minister of the Church preached from this same text. There were then about five hundred.

—John Ker.

References.—LI. 7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii. No. 1937. Alexander, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, p. 421. LI. 8.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv. No. 861. C. W. Furse, Sermons at Richmond, p. 154. LI. 10.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix. No. 490. J. Vaughan, Children's Sermons, 1875, p. 229. B. B. Pusey, Parochial Sermons, vol. ii. p. 181. LI. 11.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi. No. 954. LI. 12.—C. Bradley, The Christian Life, p. 30. J. Baldwin Brown, Aids to the Development of the Divine Life, No. 5. J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons (2nd Series), p. 159. LI. 13.—J. Duncan, The Pulpit and Communion Table, p. 310. LI. 14.—C. J. Ridgeway, The King and His Kingdom, p. 159. LI. 16, 17.—F. D. Maurice, The Doctrine of Sacrifice, p. 86. J. A. Alexander, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, p. 639.

Psalm 51:17

Dr. Whyte, in his small book on St. Teresa, mentions that this text was her continual cry—till she died with these words on her lips, 'A broken and a contrite heart Thou wilt not despise'. And thus, with the most penitential of David's penitential Psalms in her mouth, and with the holy candle of her Church in her hand, Teresa of Jesus went forth from her banishment to meet her bridegroom.

References.—LI. 17.—F. J. A. Hort, Village Sermons (2nd Series), p. 120. A. G. Brown, Penny Pulpit, No. 1056. Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons (3rd Series), p. 99. J. Keble, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany, p. 357.

Psalm 51:18

Henry Perreyve wrote to a friend who was about to visit Jerusalem:—

'Ah, my friend, help me and let us sing together; let us pray for the coming of that fair day when, the bonds of the earthly city being broken, she will soar like the eagle towards the regions of heaven. She will move onwards like a ship, towards the haven of her rest and of her glory. Let us plead that God may work: "Lord, do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion, build Thou the walls of the holy Jerusalem. There wilt Thou accept from our hands the burntoffering of the eternal sacrifice—O Jerusalem, sing unto thy Lord, Zion, praise thy God." That means, O my soul, O soul of my friend, sing unto Thy Lord, praise Thy God. All the Psalms, all the vows of Holy Scripture crowd into my heart. I can say no more, friend. But you have understood me. I repeat, kiss for me the soil of that holy land, and repeat to her those transports of love which the mere echo of her name still awakens in the hearts of her children.'

—Lettres de l'Abbé Henri Perreyve, pp. 69, 70.

References.—LI. 18.—H. L. Thompson, The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, p. 98. W. M. Sinclair, Difficulties of our Day, p. 169. LI.—International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 3.

Psalms 51

In the Middle Ages, and after the Reformation, this was the Miserere, the last cry for mercy, sung, or heard, by those who were about to step into the presence of the judgment-seat. When it was read to Henry V. of England on his deathbed, the closing words, 'Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem,' seemed to fall on the ear of the dying man as a reproach, for he had cherished a vow, and he murmured, 'If I had finished the war in France, and established peace, I would have gone to Palestine to rescue the Holy City from the Saracens.' It was read to Lady Jane Grey and her husband, Guildford Dudley, when they were executed together, 22 August, 1553, read to her in Latin, and repeated by her in English. It was read also at Norfolk's execution a few years later. It was the last prayer of Oecolampadius, who had his sickness aggravated and his death hastened by the untimely end of his friend Zwingle in 1531. He called the ministers of the churches round him, exhorted them to fidelity and purity of doctrine, prayed earnestly in the words of David in the 51st Psalm, and soon after died.

—John Ker.

Psalms 51

Edward Bickersteth, one of the home saints and heroes of C.M.S. history, wrote at the close of his life in his Journal: 'O that the Lord should ever condescend to use one so sinful and unworthy. The 51st Psalm is the Scriptural prayer that most suits me.'

References.—LII. 3.—J. N. Norton, The King's Ferry Boat, p. 161. LII.—International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 12. LIII. 2.—Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons (2nd Series), p. 165. LIII. 6.—W. N. Punshon, Sermons, p. 118. LIII.—International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 16. LIV. A. Maclaren, Life of David, p. 100. Leviticus 4.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes (1st Series), p. 58. Leviticus 5.— W. M. Statham, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv. p. 248. Leviticus 6.—E. R. Conder, Drops and Hocks, p. 120. G. Dawson, Sermons on Daily Life and Duty, p. 1.

Psalms 51

Verse 8. 'Thou tellest my wanderings; put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?' a verse frequently in the mouth of Archbishop Usher, one of the best and most learned men of his time—born in Dublin, 1580, driven to and fro through England and Ireland amid the troubles in Church and State, during one of the most troublous times in our history, and at length finding the rest he often sighed for at Reigate in England, 1655, after he had preached the Gospel for fifty-five years.

—John Ker.

References.—LVI. 8.—J. Ker, Sermons (2nd Series), p. 290. E. M. Goulburn, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii. p. 104. J. Vaughan, Sermons (9th Series), p. 69. LVI. 9.—C. J. Vaughan, Voices of the Prophets, p. 94. LVI.—International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 29. LVII.—A. Maclaren, Life of David, p. 119. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 37. C. Kingsley, Westminster Sermons, p. 302. LVIII. 1.—J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 1874, p. 123. LVIII. 4.—J. N. Norton, The King's Ferry Boat, p. 126. LVIII.—International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 42. A. Maclaren, Weekday Evening Addresses, p. 112.