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"That they may receive forgiveness of sins":
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We need to go to the Lord to receive a thorough forgiveness of all our sins (1 John 1:7, 9).
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David begged God to blot out his transgressions, wash him thoroughly from his iniquity, cleanse him from his sin, and purge his sin with hyssop (Psa. 51:1-2, 7, 9):
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Hyssop typifies Christ in His humble and humiliated human nature (1 Kings 4:33a; Exo. 12:22a), implying Christ as our Mediator and sacrifice (Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 10:9).
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Like David, we need to stay in the presence of God to have a thorough and genuine repentance and confession to receive a full forgiveness from God.
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If we confess our sins to receive God's forgiveness, we will have the gladness of God's salvation and be sustained with a willing spirit; then we can teach transgressors His ways, and sinners will turn back to Him (Psa. 51:12-13).
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"That they may receive...an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me":
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This inheritance is the Triune God Himself with all He has, all He has done, and all He will do for His redeemed people.
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The Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ, who is the portion allotted to the saints as their inheritance (Col. 2:9; 1:12).
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We enjoy the pneumatic Christ as the pledge of our inheritance (Eph. 1:14) "among those," that is, in the church life (cf. 2 Tim. 2:22).
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We need to bring people into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ in the church life so that they may enjoy Christ as we do and be sanctified dispositionally with the holy nature of God through the exercise of their spirit (Heb. 2:10-11; 1 Cor. 1:9; 2 Cor. 4:13).
Morning Nourishment
Acts 26:18 ...That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.Psa. 51:1-2 ...According to the greatness of Your compassions blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and from my sin cleanse me.
7 Purge my sin with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
We also need to pray, "Lord, grant me a full and thorough forgiveness of all my sins....I would leave nothing that has not been dealt with. Lord, I also want to be fully sanctified. I don't want to be merely a forgiven person but also a sanctified person. Then I will be able to enjoy my portion, the all-inclusive Christ." Day by day we enjoy Christ as our portion, not in an individualistic way but by enjoying Him among the saints,...those who are sanctified in the church. (CWWL, 1975-1976, vol. 3, "Young People's Training," p. 312)
Today's Reading
David begged God to blot out his transgressions, wash him thoroughly from his iniquity, cleanse him from his sin, and purge his sin with hyssop (Psa. 51:1-2, 7, 9). The verbs used by David—"blot out," "wash," "cleanse," and "purge"—indicate that his repentance and confession were thorough and that his asking for forgiveness was genuine.Like David, we need to stay in the presence of God, confessing that we were born in sin and pleading with Him to wash us and cleanse us, to blot out our transgressions, and to purge our sin. To pray in this way indicates that we have no trust in ourselves. Realizing that we are sinful and that God is holy, we trust only in Him. Also, we realize that we need Christ to be our Mediator and our sacrifice.
In verse 7a David prayed, "Purge my sin with hyssop, and I will be clean." Hyssop typifies Christ in His humble and humiliated human nature (1 Kings 4:33a; Exo. 12:22a). In Psalm 51:7a hyssop implies Christ as the Mediator and the sacrifice.
In verse 10 David prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, / And renew a steadfast spirit within me." The Hebrew word for clean here may also be translated "pure." David begged God not only to forgive him and purge him but also to renew him.
By sinning we become old, but after we are forgiven by God we may be renewed. Thus, after we enjoy God's forgiveness, we need to ask Him for His renewing.
In verse 11 David continued, "Do not cast me from Your presence, / And do not take the Spirit of Your holiness away from me." We need a new heart and a steadfast spirit, and we also need God's presence....God's presence is actually the Spirit. When the Spirit is away, God's presence also is gone.
In verse 8a David prayed, "Let me hear gladness and joy," and in verse 12 he asked, "Restore to me the gladness of Your salvation, / And sustain me with a willing spirit." Here we see a connection between gladness and willingness of spirit. When we are happy, we also have a willing spirit. This is the overcoming life. A defeated person, on the contrary, is unhappy and does not have a willing spirit. If such a defeated one confesses his sin and asks God for His forgiveness, he will have the gladness of God's salvation and will also have a willing spirit. It is by the gladness of God's salvation that a willing spirit is sustained within us.
"Do good in Your good pleasure unto Zion; / Build the walls of Jerusalem. / Then You will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, / In burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; / Then they will offer bulls upon Your altar" (vv. 18-19). This signifies the participation in the enjoyment of God in the local church as God's house and in the church as God's city through the all-inclusive Christ as the offerings. If we are those who repent, confess our sins, and ask God for His purging, we will have the enjoyment of God in Christ in His house, the local church, and in His city, the universal church. (Life-study of the Psalms, pp. 282-284)
Further Reading: Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 23