True Repentance Involves an Understanding of the Seriousness of SinIt’s obvious that David doesn’t think of what he has done as any small thing.He doesn’t think of it as a small thing, because for one, he understands the consequences of it – it has made him filthy. It has stained his soul in such a deep and powerful way that he can’t clean himself up. That’s why he cries out in verse 2, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin…”For another thing, it’s clear he doesn’t think of sin as a small thing because he realizes just how deep his sin goes. He knows the problem goes way beyond the externals, with just his actions – it’s obvious he understands that ultimately the biggest problem is with the corruption in his heart.That’s why he says in verse 5 and 6, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.”But above all that, the reason he doesn’t think of it as a small thing is because he understands who his sin was against – it was ultimately against God. That’s why he says in verse 4, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.”Now that verse may bother you a little bit at first because you are like, hey wait a minute, I kind of think Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband was sinned against a little bit. But is David really saying that he didn’t sin against Uriah or against Bathsheba for that matter? I don’t think so, because that would contradict what the rest of Scripture teaches.This is a psalm, which means it is poetry, and David is using a little bit of poetic license to make a point. Every time we sin, we are sinning first and foremost against God – and ultimately this is the reason our sin is so serious – this is the main reason we should grieve over it – this is why we should most upset!You see, there are lots of people who get upset about sin because of its consequences. It’s doesn’t take a special work of God to be sad when sin messes up your life; when it makes you feel bad.There are lots of people who get upset about sin because of what it says about them. They get ticked off when they fail because they like to think of themselves as good people, and when they sin they feel bad because they know then they are not as good as they like to think they are.There are lots of people who get upset about sin because of what it does to the people around them. Even non-Christians sorrow because their sin hurts the ones they love the most.But there aren’t many people like David, who are upset about their sin primarily because it is against God.And until you get to that point, you aren’t going to experience true repentance. The person who is truly repentant takes his sin seriously because he takes God seriously. True Repentance is motivated by a love for God above all else.True Repentance is Distinguished by a Willingness to Accept Personal Responsibility for All Unbiblical Thoughts, Motives and Actions…Reading Psalm 51, it’s obvious right away, we’ve entered the no spin zone.David owns up to his sin and refuses to make excuses.“I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.”It’s not just the other people around me who know what I’ve done. I know my sin. It’s like it’s always their right in front of me, staring me in the face.And when I look at my sin, God, I recognize, you are totally right about me. I know what I’ve done, and I know it’s against you, so whatever you say to me, however you decide to judge me, I acknowledge here and now, you are in the right and I am in the wrong.“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.”If you want a big old indicator whether or not you’ve come to the place of true repentance yet – ask yourself whether you willing to do what David’s doing here, or if you are making still excuses for your sin.“Yeah, I mean what I did was awful…but you’ve got to understand what I was up against.”When you come before God and you are truly repentant of your sins, you are done playing the blame game. You are not there to try to make yourself look good. You are standing there because you want to make god look good. So you acknowledge that He is right in His judgment of you. You own up to things. You glorify Him by taking responsibility for your sin and acknowledging that He’s right in what he says about you, and He has the right do whatever He wants with you.True Repentance Involves a Godly Sorrow Over One’s SinIt’s just as impossible for a person to truly repent without sorrow and anguish as it is for a woman to have a baby without going through labor.There are no epidurals for the person who is truly repenting.We get a taste of David’s anguish through the urgency of the language he uses throughout this psalm. Wash me, purge me, deliver me… This is a desperate man.It’s clear David’s been grieving by the requests he makes. “Let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones that you have broken rejoice…Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”If you think you’ve repented but you really haven’t sorrowed for your sin, maybe you pretended like you did, but you know your heart, deep down, your sin didn’t bother you all that badly, you have reason to suspect whether you’ve really repented or not.