The Church of Divine Guidance Sunday Morning Adult Bible Study Group studying the book Psalms: A Guide to Prayer and Praise by Ron Klug. The Psalms are some of the most widely read and best-loved portions of the Bible. For thousands of years these songs of faith have spoken to the hearts and minds of people around the world. The Psalms are songs–music our spirits sing to the Creator. They are poems–full of vibrant imagery and strong rhythms. And they are prayers–our deepest emotions expressed to the Lord who feels with us. Most importantly, the Psalms are God’s Word to us, revealing the truth about him and our relationship with him. Study along with us by getting a copy of the book by clicking this LINK or the image of the book at the end of the study notes.
If you can remember back to our first session
we said that there several different styles of Psalms.
- hymns of praise. Our first three sessions, Psalms 8, 19, and 33 were hymns of praise.
- laments (a cry of pain or struggle from an individual or group) Psalms 22, 42, and 43 which we studied in the last two sessions were laments.
- penitential psalms (a cry of remorse, seeking forgiveness)
- songs of thanksgiving
- songs of trustwisdom psalms (expressing truths about life)
1. What is your understanding or definition of
sin?
Dictionary - An immoral act considered to be a
transgression against divine law
Sin is described in the Bible as
- transgression of the law of God
1 John 3:4 NIV
- rebellion against God
Deuteronomy 9:7 NIV
Whoever rebels against your word and does not
obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong
and courageous!”
Joshua 1:18 NIV
In this Psalm David freely admitted his sin
and asked God for mercy and forgiveness.
The occasion of David's remorse is his adultery with Bathsheba and the
conspiracy in the death of her husband Uriah, which for all intents and
purposes was murder.
David, king of Israel, wrote this psalm after
being confronted by the prophet Nathan about his adultery with Bathsheba and
the murder of her husband.
The background:
2 Samuel 12:1-14 NIV
READ PSALM 51:1–12
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your
unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my
transgressions. Wash away all my
iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For
I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done
what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when
you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in
that secret place. Cleanse me with
hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones
you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face
from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within
me. Do not cast me from your presence or
take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore
to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51:1-12 NIV
Psalm 51:1-12 NIV
2. What four things did the psalmist ask for
in verses 1 and 2?
●
Mercy
●
Blot out his transgressions
●
Wash his iniquity
●
Cleanse him
What did he admit about himself?
He admitted that he had blown it and
sinned. He was a sinner.
3. What was his attitude toward his
wrongdoing?
He admitted it and he couldn't forget it. He
knew that while his sin affected others that it was first of all a
transgression against God’s laws and was rebellion against God. He also knew
that whatever punishment that God wished to execute was appropriate.
What deep conviction did he express in verse
5?
He knew that he had a sin nature from birth.
4. What gave the psalmist the courage to come
before God and ask for forgiveness and cleansing?
Although he was sinful God still wanted him to
be faithful and even before he was born God taught him wisdom.
5. List the imperatives or requests in verses
7–12.
●
Cleanse
●
Wash
●
Let
●
Hide
●
Blot out
●
Create
●
Renew
●
Restore
●
Grant
What was the writer asking God to do for him
in each of these prayers?
He was asking God to restore him to a place
with God that he had before this transgression.
6. How do you understand verse 8?
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones
you have crushed rejoice.
Psalm 51:8 NIV
Psalm 51:8 NIV
He wanted to know that God had forgiven
him. God’s voice of forgiveness. That is, the voice of forgiveness, causing
joy and rejoicing. What he wished to hear was the kind voice of God in
pronouncing his pardon; not the voice of anger and condemnation. God now
condemned him. The law condemned him. His own conscience condemned him. The
result was anguish and sorrow. The burden was great and overpowering - such as
to crush him; to break all his "bones." He longed to hear the sweet
voice of forgiveness, by which he might have peace, and by which his soul might
be made to rejoice. - From Barnes’ Notes
on the Bible
Why does salvation bring joy (verses 8,12)?
Because you know that you have been forgiven.
7. Looking back over verses 6–12, when we ask
God to deal with our sin, what negative actions should we ask for?
●
Brokenness
●
Discipline
What positive actions?
●
Restore
●
Forgive
●
More kingdom responsibility
READ PSALM 51:13–19.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so
that sinners will turn back to you.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my
Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare
your praise. You do not delight in
sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt
offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a
broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. May it please you to prosper Zion, to build
up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will
delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Psalm 51:13-19 NIV
Psalm 51:13-19 NIV
8. How did the psalmist respond in verses
13–15?
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so
that sinners will turn back to you.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my
Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare
your praise.
Psalm 51:13-15 NIV
Psalm 51:13-15 NIV
When God cleanses and restores he will testify
of God’s goodness praising Him.
How can a forgiven sinner effectively teach
other sinners God’s ways?
By giving your own life’s story
9. What kinds of sacrifices please God?
He doesn't want a show, He wants your heart.
Isaiah 1:11-15 NIV “The
multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord . “I have
more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I
have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has
asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed
festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary
of bearing them. When you spread out
your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many
prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!
He didn’t say they
weren’t bringing their sacrifices and offerings, in fact they were bringing
them. They were observing the festivals
and feasts that God directed them to keep but because of their lifestyle He
didn’t want to have anything to do with their worship.
What is the right attitude in which to make
them?
Isaiah 1:16-17 NIV Wash and make
yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the
oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy,
not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings
Micah 6:8 NIV He has shown you,
O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly
and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
10. Are you personally more in danger of
underestimating your sins or overestimating them?
I am in more danger of underestimating them.
Explain.
There are things that I have done and some I
still do that I try to justify and I know that it's rebellion. I have to
constantly ask forgiveness and deliverance to the point sometime I really
wonder if I really want deliverance. Father please forgive me for that kind of
thinking because it’s dangerous. Please
deliver me.
11. Discuss the statement: “Purity as well as
pardon is the desire of the true penitent.”
Asking forgiveness is great but better yet is, after asking for and receiving forgiveness, is to repent. When you repent you have sincere
regret and remorse. It means to change your mind and go in a different
direction.
The Greek word for “pure” is katharos. It
means to be “clean, blameless, unstained from guilt.”
Pray that God will continue to show you the
sin in your life and give you grace to deal with it.
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