Psalm 51:8
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
Sermons
A Penitential VisionH. J. Martyn.Psalm 51:8
Acknowledgment of TransgressionThomas Horton, D. D.Psalm 51:8
Benefits from Calling Sins to AccountS. Smith.Psalm 51:8
Confession of SinsS. Smith.Psalm 51:8
David's RepentanceT. Armitage, D. D.Psalm 51:8
Further Reasons for Thinking More of Our Sins and Less of Our VirtuesArchdeacon Paley.Psalm 51:8
Man's SinR. Hebron.Psalm 51:8
Of the Duty of ConfessionAdam Littleton, D. D.Psalm 51:8
Sin: a Soul-ProspectHomilistPsalm 51:8
Sorrow for Sin HabitualT. Biddulph, M. A.Psalm 51:8
The Indebtedness of SinA. Watson, D. D.Psalm 51:8
The Prospect Painful But SalutaryA. K. H. Boyd, D. D.Psalm 51:8
The Reality of SinW. B. Jones, M. A.Psalm 51:8
Think Less of Our Virtues, More of Our SinsArchdeacon Paley.Psalm 51:8
Upon What Condition a Working Conscience is a BlessingS. Hieron.Psalm 51:8
Repentance and ForgivenessC. Short Psalm 51:1-8
A Petition and an ArgumentPsalm 51:1-19
Blot Out My TrangressionsAndrew Murray.Psalm 51:1-19
David's RepentanceJ. S. Macintosh, D. D.Psalm 51:1-19
God's Former Dealings a Plea for MercyThomas Horton, D. D.Psalm 51:1-19
God's LovingkindnessT. Alexander, M. A.Psalm 51:1-19
God's MercyA. Symson.Psalm 51:1-19
God's-Tender MerciesT. Alexander, D. D.Psalm 51:1-19
LessonsS. Hieron.Psalm 51:1-19
Sin Blotted OutCampbell Morgan, D. D.Psalm 51:1-19
The Exceeding Sinfulness of SinCanon Newbolt.Psalm 51:1-19
The Fifty-First PsalmF. W. Robertson, M. A.Psalm 51:1-19
The Greatness of Sin to a True PenitentMonday Club SermonsPsalm 51:1-19
The Minister's PsalmW. Forsyth Psalm 51:1-19
The Moan of a KingJ. Parker, D. D.Psalm 51:1-19
The Penitent SinnerHomilistPsalm 51:1-19
The Prayer for MercyAndrew Murray.Psalm 51:1-19
The Prayer of the PenitentG. F. Pentecost, D. D.Psalm 51:1-19
The Prayer of the PenitentDavid O. Mears.Psalm 51:1-19
The Psalmist's Prayer for MercyT. Biddulph, M. A.Psalm 51:1-19
Broken BonesPsalm 51:8-10
David's Prayer for Joy and GladnessThomas Horton, D. D.Psalm 51:8-10
David's Reiteration of RequestsThomas Horton, D. D.Psalm 51:8-10
The Depression of BelieversT. S. Spencer, D. D.Psalm 51:8-10
The Reparation of Sin's RavagesCanon Newbolt.Psalm 51:8-10
The Torment of a Roused ConscienceS. Hieron.Psalm 51:8-10














Snow is remarkable for whiteness. As it glistens on the mountains, or lies in virgin purity on the fields, what can compare with it? And yet David speaks of something whiter. Where? Not in nature, but in the kingdom of grace. Of whom? Not Christ, not the holy angels, not the saints in glory, but, strange to say, of himself. Like Paul, he was "the chief of sinners," and he was, therefore, the fitter ensample of the marvellous kindness and grace of God. In his prayer we find -

I. THE RECOIL OF THE SOUL FROM SIN. Many find pleasure in sin; but when once the soul is quickened, there is an end to this. Sin is felt to be vile and loathsome. Its touch is defilement; its presence is abhorrent; its effects are dreaded as the most terrible.

II. THE YEARNING OF THE SOUL FOR PURITY. All things around us that retain their freshness and their purity condemn us and put us to shame. They show what we have lost; they intensify our pains and our sorrows. At the same time, they help to keep alive our hopes. While they testify that we are fallen, they testify also that sin is not of our true nature - that it is not something that rightly belongs to us, but that it should be abjured and abhorred. The more we compare ourselves with God's Law, and the more truly we realize God's will concerning us, the more earnestly shall we cry for deliverance.

III. THE SUPREME TRUST OF THE SOUL IN GOD. There is the cry, "Wash me!" This implies weakness and submission. We cannot "wash" ourselves. Our tears and prayers, our penitences and endeavours, are in vain. We cast ourselves implicitly upon God. Let God, who is holy and good, do this great thing for us, and do it in his own way. It is not the priest, it is not the saints; God only can save. There is also the glad faith. "And I shall be whiter than snow." The lost purity will be restored. What God does, he does perfectly. What joy in being "whiter than snow"! - not only pardoned (Isaiah 1:18), but cleansed (1 John 1:7; Revelation 7:14). It is heaven begun. - W.F.

Make me to hear of joy and gladness, that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
This is the language of David at a period of trouble. His soul was depressed. He was fully conscious of his sins, but he was not conscious of forgiveness. He pleads with God for pardon, and, sensible of indwelling sin, he pleads for deliverance from its dreadful power. We can readily perceive some reasons why such depressions of mind should sometimes exist.

1. There are many instances of great unfaithfulness in the love and service of God. In such instances, doubts and difficulties of mind arise on both gracious and natural principles. It is a principle of grace, in God's dispensation of it, to withdraw His Spirit from those who forsake Him. He puts out their light. He leaves them to wander in the darkness of a spiritual abandonment, as an act of discipline, sometimes as intolerable to the soul as it is deserved. And such depressions arise —

2. From the difficulties of determining character. Almost anything else is more easily determined than the question of character in the sight of God. But we lay down this principle: We affirm that there is a difference between the religious doubting, darkness and depression of mind which sometimes assail a true believer, and the doubting, darkness and depression which would belong to him if he were not a true believer; we affirm that there are peculiarities of grief and fear and anxiety in the dark soul-troubles of a child of God. We aid him as far as we can.We name some of the peculiarities accompanying a true believer's depression of mind.

1. In his depression of mind, when he doubts sometimes of his piety and fears final ruin, or mourns because he has no more evidence of his adoption; a true believer finds his soul uneasy and troubled more constantly than it would be if he were not a true believer, but were only a Christian in mere name.

2. Christian depression has a kind of supremacy about it. It swallows up all other things and regards them in comparison as trifles.. A believer in his trouble is not tempted by the world. An unbeliever may be. He would renounce anything to attain that for which his soul longeth. It is supreme with him.

3. There is a deeper sensibility and a greater degree of anguish with a believer in his spiritual abandonment than an unbeliever knows anything about. He does not feel like the orphan that never knew a father; he feels like a disowned and outcast child. He has no more a father, no more a home or a hope. There is nothing for him to turn to, and no friend for him to hope in.

4. In the seasons of his sadness a true Christian will be looking very much to God for relief. The psalm before us is an example.

5. Notice the resort to this means of grace will always mark the course of a troubled Christian. Pray he will. lie will pray when, from his dark and unsoothed experiences of anguish, he finds and knows that prayer does him no good.

6. Amid the dark glooms of a believer's trouble there will be occasional flashes of light. The cloud will sometimes break away. The sun will appear, if not in its glory, at least in its glimpses. And, accordingly, you find in the prayers of depression and doubt recorded in the Bible such a mingling together of complaint and complacency — of gloom and gladness — of trial and triumph, as makes them appear to an unwise mind like inconsistencies and absurdities. Job was compelled to make one of the bitterest of all possible lamentations. But there came flashes of light. "He knoweth the way that I take."

7. In all the depression and gloom of a believer, there are very few ideas of darkness and trouble which have their origin in any uncertainty of mind in respect to the realities of religion in respect to God or any of the truths of Christianity. He knows the reality of religion. He knows the security of it. He knows the blessedness of its experience, His trouble is that he cannot get at such blessed realities for himself. He would be less troubled if he had any, doubt about the good he longs for, and if he did not set upon it such an indescribable value.

(T. S. Spencer, D. D.)

I. THE REQUEST ITSELF.

1. The thing petitioned for. "Joy and gladness."(1) As there is a spiritual life, so there is also a spiritual joy, and the one follows from the other: every kind of life has its joy, Which is attendant upon it: not only the rational life, which is the highest of the life of nature; but also the sensitive, as the life of beasts; and the vegetative, which is the life of plants. These have their proportionable cheerfulness, and comfortableness, and joyfulness, which is belonging unto them; and therefore the life of grace in a more especial manner. And as in this there is joy for the principle, there is a spirit and affection of joy; so there is also joy for the object, there is matter and occasion of joy for that principle to close withal. There is joyful tidings and occurrences; there are such things as do provoke joy in those persons which are capable of it, and are fit subjects for it, as pardon of sin, and assurance of this pardon, and communion with God, and hopes of heaven: these are things which put gladness into the hearts by way of object and occasion to it.(2) The properties and effects of it.(a) This inward spiritual joy, this joy which is peculiar to religion, is an enlivening and strengthening joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength; it enables a man in some measure for those duties which God requires at his hands. It is compared to oil (Psalm 45:7). Now, we know the property of oil is to supple and qualify the parts and members of the body, and make them fit for service: so does this joy of the spirit. Sadness, and melancholy, and discontent, it is a lumpish business, it takes men off from doing their work; but joy it puts life into them, it expedites them, and makes them ready to every good work.(b) As it makes men active in doing good, so also patient in suffering evil. It carries a man through crosses and tribulations with a great deal.of support above other men (Romans 5:2, 3).(e) It is durable and lasting, a joy which no man can take away (John 16:22). This is the difference betwixt a Christian's joy and a worldling's; betwixt a believer's and an hypocrite's. As for the latter, it quickly withers and comes to an end; it is but for a moment, as Job speaks (Job 20:25). It is like the crackling of thorns under a pot, as Solomon (Ecclesiastes 7:8). But the former it lasts and continues, though not always in the same measure and degree for the vigour and liveliness of it, yet for the substance of it still it does; and especially for the true ground, and matter and occasion of it.(d) It is a transcendent joy, it does transport and raise the soul after an eminent manner (1 Peter 1:8). It is such a joy as the greatness whereof is unable to be expressed unto us, especially when it is in that measure and degree as sometimes it is; as some of the blessed martyrs have sometimes had experience, when they have been so filled with joy as that they have despised their greatest torments themselves.

2. The manner and conveyance of this joy and gladness to the soul. "Make me to hear," etc. When we speak of the hearing of joy, we may conceive of it two manner of ways; either, first, by the hearing of the ear in the ministry of the Word; or, secondly, by the hearing of the heart in the application of the Spirit to the conscience: both these ways did David pray that he might hear joy and gladness.

3. The author and worker of all this in us, the spring and fountain from whence it proceeds, and that is God Himself, "Do thou make me to hear." This it may be carried respectively to all which hath been said before; and we may take notice of it in a threefold reference.(1) To the occasion. "Make me to hear joy and gladness:" that is, send me such a preacher as may speak seasonably and comfortably to me. It is God who hath a hand in this (Psalm 68:11).(2) To the performance. Make me to observe what I hear.(3) To the success. As the Word itself is comfortable, so let it have a comfortable effect upon my heart to fill it with comfort.

II. THE ENLARGEMENT OR AMPLIFICATION OF THIS REQUEST, FROM THE END OR DRIFT IN PROPOUNDING IT. "That the bones," etc. The meaning of it is this; that I may receive comfort after so much terror and trouble and distraction as I have been exercised withal. These broken bones are a metaphor taken from the body applied to the soul, to express unto us the anguish and vexation of it. There are two things considerable in this clause; first, here is somewhat implied; and, secondly, here is somewhat expressed: that which is implied is David's condition, and that is to have broken bones, that which is expressed is David's desire, that these broken bones might rejoice.

1. We see here that a condition of humiliation is not always a condition of despair. Broken bones are recoverable: a soul may be brought very low through the hand of God, which it is exercised withal, and yet not in a forlorn estate; thus David here, and so other of the saints elsewhere, as Job, and Heman, and Hezekiah, and such as these, they had all a share in these broken bones, and vet for all that recovered and got them up again.

2. Observe somewhat from the order; that great rejoicing it hath oftentimes great trouble preceding and going before it: the broken bones usher in the exultation. This is God's usual method, to bring to heaven by the gates of hell; and to make great dejections proper always to great enlargements. This He does, that so He may hereby set a price upon His own comforts, and have them had in greater esteem, and so much the better relished by us, which otherwise they would not be.

3. Observe somewhat also from the opposition of state to state, a state of sadness to a state of rejoicing, and the one promoted by the other; and so there is this in it; that those who have felt most of God's terrors are most affected with His comforts: such as these leap for joy, as coming from one extreme to another, from a dark and dismal dungeon into a glorious sunshine.

4. In this transcendent expression, that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice; we have this observation likewise intimated to us; how that the servants of God (occasionally and accidentally) gain by their very falls. This is that which David supposes as possible in this petition. As an arm or leg which is broken, when it is once set, is the stronger afterwards; so it falls out to be sometimes in this case with the servants of God.

(Thomas Horton, D. D.)

That the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice
Backsliding is a most common evil, far more common than some of us suppose. We may ourselves be guilty of it and not know it. The cunning hunter makes the passage into his pits most easy and attractive, but out of them the way is difficult indeed. So Satan makes the way of apostasy to be very seductive to our natures, but the way of return, were it not for God's grace, no human soul would find possible.

I. THE PLIGHT IN WHICH DAVID WAS. His bones had been broken. People speak flippantly of David's sin, making out of it an accusation against godliness and an excuse for their own sin. But they should look also at David's repentance, for if his sin was shameful, his sorrow for it was of the bitterest kind; and if the crime was glaring, certainly the afflictions which chastised him were remarkable. Children of God cannot sin cheaply. Certainly, David did not. His word here tells that his plight was —

1. Very painful. His bones were broken. A flesh wound is painful, but here was a more serious injury. No punishment was probably more cruel than that of breaking poor creatures alive upon the wheel. To such pain David likens his.

2. Very serious.

3. And complicated. It was not one bone, but many. How can they be all set again? And so with David, the greater powers of the soul were grieved and afflicted, in our spirits there are certain graces which are, so to speak, the bones of the spiritual man. Faith, hope, love are amongst them. But how they suffer when a soul is in such plight as David was!

4. Very dangerous, for where several bones are broken, every surgeon perceives how likely it is that the case will end fatally. It is a dreadful thing to be spiritually in such case — faith broken, hope broken, love broken, and the entire man) as it were, reduced to a palpitating mass of pain. It is a dreadfully dangerous condition to be in; for, alas! when men have sinned and suffered on account of it, they may yet turn again to their sins with greater hardness of heart than ever. Read Isaiah 1. And, again, the case of David was —

5. Most damaging. For even when God in His mercy heals the broken bones, it is a sad detriment to a man to have had them broken at all. But —

6. His case was still hopeful. The saving clause lies here, "The bones which Thou hast broken." For He who wounds can bind up.

II. THE REMEDY TO WHICH HE RESORTED. He did not lie down sullenly in despondency, but he turns to God in prayer. And —

1. He believed that there was joy and gladness even for such .as he. And —

2. That it must come to him by hearing. The gate of mercy is the ear. "Incline your ear, and come unto Me, hear and," etc. Some despise preaching, and say that prayers are everything, especially the public saying of them. But it is to be noted that nowhere in the New Testament did Jesus commission men to celebrate public prayer, but He did say to His disciples, "Go and preach." Very little is said about public worship, but the Book teems with references to preaching. The fact is, the sermon reverently heard, and earnestly delivered, is the highest act of worship. And it is the main instrumentality for the salvation of men. May the Lord "make" us to hear.

III. THE HOPE WHICH HE ENTERTAINED. Not that his bones might merely 1.e quiet and at rest, but "rejoice." He had been a mass of misery, mercy shall make him a mass of music. The music is generally soft and gentle, and has much of God in it, and goes on unceasingly.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

When David's conscience was roused by Nathan's ministry, and sot upon the rack, so that he now was sensible of the terror of the Lord, and of the heinousness of his sin, the ease was altered, and that which before pleased him at the heart was now a pain to his heart, the vexation far exceeded all the former pleasures that he found. The pleasingness of sin was gone, the torment following it stuck by him, and it was no easy matter to remove it.

(S. Hieron.)

He had made it already in vers. 1 and 7, and now again he repeats it. Yea, we may observe how he does it in some respects confusedly, without observing any method or order at all; there is no method in a broken heart: while he is praying for one thing, he does by the bye thrust in another; and while he is praying for assurance, he does preposterously pray for forgiveness, for pardon after joy, which is a thing antecedent thereunto.

1. Here is the necessity of this request of all other besides, to desire that God would pardon us our sins; it is that which we have need to put in the front of all other desires; nay, not only in the front, but in the rear; yea, and further, in the whole body of all. Whenever we draw near to God, make any suit or petition to Him, this had need to come in still, as we may say, for the burthen of the song, "Hide Thy face from my sins." The reason of it is this, because this is the groundwork and foundation of all other comforts besides: all the good which we receive from God is laid in our reconciliation with Him; and all our boldness and freedom, as to the asking of any good at His hands, so long as there is any guilt charged upon us, we cannot so easily do this; this puts an obstruction to those mercies which we expect from Him.

2. The second is the difficulty of it. Great sins make great impressions and wounds upon the conscience, which are not easily healed and made up. And this God will have to be in His infinite wisdom upon a double account: first, to put a weight upon sin; and, secondly, to put a price upon pardon; that the one may not be too easily ventured on, and that the other may not be too lightly esteemed and slighted, and made nothing of, as it would be ready to be.

(Thomas Horton, D. D.)

David's prayer here is for more than forgiveness, more than remission of punishment, more than abolition of sin; it is for restoration to what he was before.

I. HE ASKS GOD TO FORGET IT ALL; to. forget the home left, the squandered property, the being driven in to God, unwilling and degraded. And all this to be as if it had never been! Is this possible? In one sense, yes; in another sense, no. Think only how we have altered our lives. It is said to have been the constant prayer of a very holy man, "O my God, make me what I might have been if it never had sinned!" Some of the Jews every Friday go to a place in Jerusalem, known as the Jews' wailing-place, where there are just a few foundation-stones of the old temple, and there lament their fallen greatness. There are wailing-places, it may be, and always will be, in our own lives. But a new city has risen up, and new duties and new hopes, and God has promised to forget.

II. HE ASKS FOR RESTORATION TO STRENGTH, as shown in the clean heart and right spirit. The clean heart being a desire for right things in the seat of the affections; the right spirit being a susceptibility to heavenly influence in the seat of the conscience, the inner man.

III. HE ASKS FOR THE COMFORTS OF RELIGION. "The comfort of Thy help." How much there is in these words!

(Canon Newbolt.)

People
Bathsheba, David, Doeg, Nathan, Psalmist, Saul
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Bones, Broken, Bruised, Causest, Crushed, Fill, Full, Glad, Gladness, Hast, Joy, Joyful, Makest, Rapture, Rejoice
Outline
1. David prays for remission of sins, whereof he makes a deep confession
6. He prays for sanctification
16. God delights not in sacrifice, but in sincerity
18. He prays for the church

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 51:8

     5801   brokenness

Psalm 51:1-10

     8272   holiness, growth in

Psalm 51:1-12

     8604   prayer, response to God

Psalm 51:1-17

     1065   God, holiness of
     6655   forgiveness, application
     6735   repentance, examples
     8707   apostasy, personal

Psalm 51:7-8

     5137   bones

Psalm 51:7-12

     8150   revival, personal

Library
David's Cry for Pardon
... Blot out my transgressions. 2. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.'--PSALM li. 1, 2. A whole year had elapsed between David's crime and David's penitence. It had been a year of guilty satisfaction not worth the having; of sullen hardening of heart against God and all His appeals. The thirty-second Psalm tells us how happy David had been during that twelvemonth, of which he says, 'My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night Thy hand
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

David's Cry for Purity
'... Renew a right spirit within me. 11. ... And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. 12. ... And uphold me with Thy free Spirit.' --PSALM li. 10-12. We ought to be very thankful that the Bible never conceals the faults of its noblest men. David stands high among the highest of these. His words have been for ages the chosen expression for the devotions of the holiest souls; and whoever has wished to speak longings after purity, lowly trust in God, the aspirations of love, or the raptures of devotion,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

January the Twenty-Seventh the Confession of Sin
"I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me." --PSALM li. 1-12. Sin that is unconfessed shuts out the energies of grace. Confession makes the soul receptive of the bountiful waters of life. We open the door to God as soon as we name our sin. Guilt that is penitently confessed is already in the "consuming fire" of God's love. When I "acknowledge my sin" I begin to enter into the knowledge of "pardon, joy, and peace." But if I hide my sin I also hide myself from "the unsearchable
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Unimpeachable Justice
There is now agitating the public mind something which I thought I might improve this day, and turn to very excellent purpose. There are only two things concerning which the public have any suspicion. The verdict of the jury was the verdict of the whole of England; we were unanimous as to the high probability, the well-nigh absolute certainty of his guilt; but there were two doubts in our minds--one of them but small, we grant you, but if both could have been resolved we should have felt more easy
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

The Wordless Book
"Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."--Psalm 51:7. I DARESAY you have most of you heard of a little book which an old divine used constantly to study, and when his friends wondered what there was in the book, he told them that he hoped they would all know and understand it, but that there was not single word in it. When they looked at it, they found that it consisted of only three leaves; the first was black, the second was red, and the third was pure white. The old minister used to gaze upon
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 57: 1911

Praying Saints of the Old Testaments (Continued)
Bishop Lambeth and Wainwright had a great M. E. Mission in Osaka, Japan. One day the order came from high up that no more meetings would be allowed in the city by Protestants. Lambeth and Wainwright did all they could but the high officials were obstinate and unrelenting. They then retired to the room of prayer. Supper time came and the Japanese girl came to summon them to their meal, but she fell under the power of prayer. Mrs. Lambeth came to find what the matter was and fell under the same power.
Edward M. Bounds—Prayer and Praying Men

Period iv. The Age of the Consolidation of the Church: 200 to 324 A. D.
In the fourth period of the Church under the heathen Empire, or the period of the consolidation of the Church, the number of Christians increased so rapidly that the relation of the Roman State to the Church became a matter of the gravest importance (ch. 1). During a period of comparative peace and prosperity the Church developed its doctrinal system and its constitution (ch. 2). Although the school of Asia Minor became isolated and temporarily ceased to affect the bulk of the Church elsewhere, the
Joseph Cullen Ayer Jr., Ph.D.—A Source Book for Ancient Church History

Some Helps to Mourning
Having removed the obstructions, let me in the last place propound some helps to holy mourning. 1 Set David's prospect continually before you. My sin is ever before me' (Psalm 51:3). David, that he might be a mourner, kept his eye full upon sin. See what sin is, and then tell me if there be not enough in it to draw forth tears. I know not what name to give it bad enough. One calls it the devil's excrement. Sin is a complication of all evils. It is the spirits of mischief distilled. Sin dishonours
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

The Songs of the Fugitive.
The psalms which probably belong to the period of Absalom's rebellion correspond well with the impression of his spirit gathered from the historical books. Confidence in God, submission to His will, are strongly expressed in them, and we may almost discern a progress in the former respect as the rebellion grows. They flame brighter and brighter in the deepening darkness. From the lowest abyss the stars are seen most clearly. He is far more buoyant when he is an exile once more in the wilderness,
Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David

Transcriber's Note.
There are significant differences in the numerous reprints of Isaac Watts' "Psalms." The first generation of this Project Gutenberg file was from an 1818 printing by C. Corrall of 38 Charing Cross, London. The Index and the Table of First Lines have been omitted for the following reasons: 1. They refer to page numbers that are here expunged; and 2. In this electronic version key words, etc., can be easily located via searches. Separate numbers have been added to Psalms that have more than one part
Isaac Watts—The Psalms of David

How God Answered Donald's Prayer
God often uses children to win grown folks for Christ. Little children not only have a deep faith but a childlike trust in believing that God answers their prayers. "All that ye ask in my name, believing, that ye shall receive." As a young girl, I went to Sunday School and learned about Jesus. Although I knew about my Savior and what He had done to save me, yet I never accepted Him as my own Redeemer and Friend. As years went by, I went into sin and shared in the common sins of worldly people.
S. B. Shaw—Touching Incidents and Remarkable Answers to Prayer

David and Nathan
'And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin.'--2 SAMUEL xii. 13. We ought to be very thankful that Scripture never conceals the faults of its noblest men. High among the highest of them stands the poet- king. Whoever, for nearly three thousand years, has wished to express the emotions of trust in God, longing after purity, aspiration, and rapture of devotion, has found that his words have been before him. And this man
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Out of the Deep of Sin.
Innumerable troubles are come about me. My sins have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to look up; yea, they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me.--Ps. xl. 15. I acknowledge my faults, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.--Ps. li. 3. I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord; and so Thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin.--Ps. xxxii. 6. Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven, and
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep

Cleansing.
As there are conditions requiring to be complied with in order to the obtaining of salvation, before one can be justified, e. g., conviction of sin, repentance, faith; so there are conditions for full salvation, for being "filled with the Holy Ghost." Conviction of our need is one, conviction of the existence of the blessing is another; but these have been already dealt with. "Cleansing" is another; before one can be filled with the Holy Ghost, one's heart must be "cleansed." "Giving them the Holy
John MacNeil—The Spirit-Filled Life

All are Sinners.
Some time ago we overheard from a person who should have known better, remarks something like these: "I wonder how sinners are saved in the Lutheran Church?" "I do not hear of any being converted in the Lutheran Church," and such like. These words called to mind similar sentiments that we heard expressed long ago. More than once was the remark made in our hearing that in certain churches sinners were saved, because converted and sanctified, while it was at least doubtful whether any one could find
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

God the Holy Spirit the Love which Dwells in the Heart.
"It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments." --Psalm cxxxiii. 2. The fact that love can radiate within man does not insure him the possession of true and real Love, unless, according to His eternal counsel, God is pleased to enter into personal fellowship with him. So long as man knows Him only from afar and not near, God is a stranger to him. He may admire His Love, have a faint sense of it, be pleasantly
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Original Sin
Q-16: DID ALL MANKIND FALL IN ADAM'S FIRST TRANSGRESSION? A: The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him, by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression. 'By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,' &c. Rom 5:12. Adam being a representative person, while he stood, we stood; when he fell, we fell, We sinned in Adam; so it is in the text, In whom all have sinned.' Adam was the head
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

St. Malachy Becomes Bishop of Connor; He Builds the Monastery of iveragh.
16. (10). At that time an episcopal see was vacant,[321] and had long been vacant, because Malachy would not assent: for they had elected him to it.[322] But they persisted, and at length he yielded when their entreaties were enforced by the command of his teacher,[323] together with that of the metropolitan.[324] It was when he was just entering the thirtieth year of his age,[325] that he was consecrated bishop and brought to Connor; for that was the name of the city through ignorance of Irish ecclesiastical
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

In Fine, Supplication for Pardon, with Humble and Ingenuous Confession of Guilt...
In fine, supplication for pardon, with humble and ingenuous confession of guilt, forms both the preparation and commencement of right prayer. For the holiest of men cannot hope to obtain anything from God until he has been freely reconciled to him. God cannot be propitious to any but those whom he pardons. Hence it is not strange that this is the key by which believers open the door of prayer, as we learn from several passages in The Psalms. David, when presenting a request on a different subject,
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

But Regard the Troops of virgins, Holy Boys and Girls...
37. But regard the troops of virgins, holy boys and girls: this kind hath been trained up in Thy Church: there for Thee it hath been budding from its mother's breasts; for Thy Name it hath loosed its tongue to speak, Thy Name, as through the milk of its infancy, it hath had poured in and hath sucked, no one of this number can say, "I, who before was a blasphemer, and persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy, in that I did in being ignorant, in unbelief." [2130] Yea more, that, which Thou commandedst
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

Moral Depravity.
VIII. Let us consider the proper method of accounting for the universal and total moral depravity of the unregenerate moral agents of our race. In the discussion of this subject, I will-- 1. Endeavor to show how it is not to be accounted for. In examining this part of the subject, it is necessary to have distinctly in view that which constitutes moral depravity. All the error that has existed upon this subject, has been founded in false assumptions in regard to the nature or essence of moral depravity.
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

The Sinfulness of Original Sin.
MATTHEW xix. 20.--"The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" In the preceding discourse from these words, we discussed that form and aspect of sin which consists in "coming short" of the Divine Law; or, as the Westminster Creed states it, in a "want of conformity" unto it. The deep and fundamental sin of the young ruler, we found, lay in what he lacked. When our Lord tested him, he proved to be utterly destitute of love to God. His soul was a
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

How Shall one Make Use of Christ as the Life, when Wrestling with an Angry God Because of Sin?
That we may give some satisfaction to this question, we shall, 1. Shew what are the ingredients in this case, or what useth to concur in this distemper. 2. Shew some reasons why the Lord is pleased to dispense thus with his people. 3. Shew how Christ is life to the soul in this case. 4. Shew the believer's duty for a recovery; and, 5. Add a word or two of caution. As to the first, There may be those parts of, or ingredients in this distemper: 1. God presenting their sins unto their view, so as
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

That a Man Ought not to Reckon Himself Worthy of Consolation, but More Worthy of Chastisement
O Lord, I am not worthy of Thy consolation, nor of any spiritual visitation; and therefore Thou dealest justly with me, when Thou leavest me poor and desolate. For if I were able to pour forth tears like the sea, still should I not be worthy of Thy consolation. Therefore am I nothing worthy save to be scourged and punished, because I have grievously and many a time offended Thee, and in many things have greatly sinned. Therefore, true account being taken, I am not worthy even of the least of Thy
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

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