You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge

Psalm 51 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
³ For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.

⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
⁶ Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
⁷ Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;                                                                           Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Make me to hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
⁹ Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.

¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.
¹⁶ For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

¹⁸ By Your favor do good to Zion;                                                                                             Build the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,
In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

The psalmist says:  Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.  There are many who would not agree with him, many who feel God has no right to judge. They say that a loving God would not judge. The psalmist understood though that regardless of what he had done, regardless of how other people were affected by his actions, sin is against God. Sin is opposed to God’s holiness and righteousness. Evil is an offense against the goodness of God. The psalmist says: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.     The tree that Adam and Eve ate from in the garden, in disobedience to God’s command, was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Each person is born with that knowledge, knowing that there is good and evil. Knowing requires that we choose because God has given us a free will. Each of us must choose good or evil, darkness or light, obedience or disobedience. In Psalm 53:1-3, the psalmist reveals an additional understanding about man, God and sin. He says:  The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God,” They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice;
There is no one who does good. God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God. Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.            1 John 1:5-10 says:  This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.   To deny that we sin is to deny God. For anyone to choose to walk in sin, knowing that it is opposed to God, justifies God making Him blameless when He judges.

The psalmist begins saying:  Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin.   Even before Jesus came and died on the cross for the sins of all people, the psalmist understood that it is only by God’s grace that we are saved and our sins are forgiven. Ephesians 2:8-9 says:  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.    On our own we are powerless to overcome our sinfulness. Jeremiah 17:9 says:  The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?   In Romans 7:15-20 Paul says:   For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. In verse 24-25 he says:  Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!     It is by the grace of God, according to His loving kindness and compassion that our sins are forgiven. We are redeemed through Jesus Christ our Lord, by the finished work of the cross.

The psalmist says:  Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise.   We are not saved by what we do, but rather by what Jesus did. What we do is a response to what He has done for us. 1 John 4:19 says:  We love, because He first loved us.     Again, our salvation is not a result of our works, as it says in Ephesians 2:8-9, by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Verse 10 though agrees with what the psalmist says:   For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.   Through the finished work of the cross we are a new creation, with a clean heart, we have been given the steadfast Holy Spirit of God, we are redeemed, restored and reconciled to God. In response, because He loves us we walk with Him and for Him, doing the works He prepared for us and prepared us for, teaching transgressors God’s way, that they too may know Him and His salvation.

Like the psalmist I pray:  Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise.  Amen