Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Psalm 51), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion…

• [1] Why is asking for mercy and forgiveness an imposition? Have you imposed upon others for their forgiveness, or merely “apologized,” said you’re sorry and tried to explain yourself? Have you imposed upon God for his forgiveness? Why or why not?

• [3] Can you remember a time when you couldn’t stop thinking about a particular sin of yours? Why did it nag at you? What did you do about it?

• [4] Sin is a personal rejection of God’s reality, revelation, and relationship with you. How was this true of what David is confessing here, what he did as recorded in 2 Samuel 11-12? Can you think of how it is true of any of the sins you’ve committed?

• [5] Why is it good for us to know and affirm about ourselves that we sin (see definition above) because we ARE sinners (our whole identity apart from Christ)? Can you see how, because of the Gospel, we can be free to say this about ourselves without condemnation and despair?

• [2, 7, 8-9] David has learned from previously written Scriptures that God offers salvation, cleansing, the forgiveness of sins, in a particular way: the atoning blood of a substitutionary sacrifice (sprinkled/applied to sinners by a sprig of “hyssop”). Can you think of specific Scriptures in the Old or New Testaments where this is pictured or taught? Where in the Gospels do we find the ultimate substitutionary sacrifice being made? When you confess your sins and ask God for his forgiveness, do you appeal to this blood? Are you assured of your salvation? Why or why not?