Psalm 51:11. Cast me not away from Thy face, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.

AELW 12:382

"He confesses that he has the Holy Spirit, but not perfectly or totally. These are only the first fruits of the Spirit (Rom. 8:23). After this life it will come to pass that we shall attain the fullness of the Spirit, and shall be as He is (1 John 3:2). Thus these two things should be combined, that through the Holy Spirit we might be saved from all iniquities, inwardly and outwardly, in the spirit and in the flesh, that our hearts might become a pure dwelling place (Eph. 2:22), in which no entrance is open for the return of the unclean spirit, as Christ teaches in the Gospel (Luke 11:24)"

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my inwards.

AELW 12:377

"The forgiveness of sins depends simply on the promise which faith accepts—not on our works or merits, but on the fact that by the sting of the Law God graciously calls us back to Himself so that we might acknowledge Him to be the giver of grace. The gift or the χαρίσματα are what is given to the believers after the forgiveness of sins by the God reconciled through Christ."

Psalm 51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

AELW 12:368-369

"When you become sad or feel divine wrath, do not look for any other medicine or accept any other solace than the Word, whether it is spoken by a brother who is present or comes from the spirit remembering a word you had heard earlier—like the passages: “I do not want the death of the sinner, but that he turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11); “Life is in His will” (Ps. 30:5); “God is God of the living” (Matt. 22:32); “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). These and similar passages bring the hearing of gladness, whether they come from the mouth of another or from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This, too, is hidden truth and wisdom, which inexperienced men cannot grasp."

Psalm 51:6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

AELW 12:358-359

"Why does he say, “Make known to me the hidden wisdom,” when it is already known to him? I reply: A godly man feels sin more than grace, wrath more than favor, judgment more than redemption. An ungodly man feels almost no wrath, but is smug as though there were no wrath anywhere, as though there were no God anywhere who vindicates His righteousness.

The godly always talk as though they were sinners, as indeed they are; but because they are in the truth, they are loved by God and are in grace. This feeling of grace is weaker on account of the flesh. Therefore though they have the forgiveness of sins, they still  pray and sigh for the forgiveness of sins. On the other hand, smug sinners say, “I thank Thee that I am not like other men,” as that man in Luke (18:11) did."

Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil din your sight...

Pretty Tense...From Past tense to present...

" Against Thee only do I sin...."

AELW 12:337-341

"What the translator rendered in the past tense ought to be in the present tense: “Against Thee only do I sin.” That is: “I acknowledge that in Thy sight I am nothing but a sinner.” And again: “I always do that which is evil in Thy sight.” That is: “My whole life is evil and corrupt because of sin. In Thy sight I cannot boast of my merit or righteousness, but I am completely evil. Before Thee this is my name, that I do evil, that I have sinned, that I am sinning, that I shall sin forever.” In this way the change of past tense into present takes us from the actual sin to universal sin.

The issue here is not the essence of sin or sin metaphysically considered, but the knowledge of sin, that it is recognized and felt when the voice and sentences of God come and say in our heart, “You are a sinner, you are under the wrath of God and death.” When this happens, then at last there begins that battle in which David admits he succumbed and was defeated. In the battle human nature struggles with God over whether this Word is true which declares that all men are under sin but God alone is righteous. Human nature rejects this statement and will not agree to it, that all its works are evil and sinful in the judgment of God. Thus the scholastics bitterly defend the statement that man has the right light of reason and his natural powers intact. This means not only a denial of sin, which has been divinely revealed, but also a denial that God alone is righteous when He declares that we are sinners."

Ps 51:3 For I know my inquity, and my sin is ever before me.

AELW 12:334

"In this way David prays, too, that he will be forgiven; “for,” he says, “I know my transgressions.” “What is it to me,” God could say, “if you acknowledge your sin and are sorry for it from your heart? You have the fruit of your works.” The Law would answer this way and let a man perish in this sense of sin. A judge customarily attaches a punishment to a confession of guilt. But God does not want to be a judge. He has replaced the Law with the preaching of the Gospel, in which He attests that He has extracted a satisfactory punishment if a heart is afflicted and desperate which previously was smug in its sins. This is not because there is some merit in the acknowledgment of sin. It is because He Himself has promised that He wants to forgive those who make such an acknowledgment. And He wants to be wrathful to those sinners who do not feel their sins, but either are proud of their own strength and want to be justified by their own merit, or sin smugly according to the lust of the flesh, without the fear of God. These coarse sinners are still better than those who cover their sin with a double covering, trusting in their own powers and spurning mercy."

Psalm 51:2 - Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

AELW 12:331

"These are the two parts of justification. The first is grace revealed through Christ, that through Christ we have a gracious God, so that sin can no longer accuse us, but our conscience has found peace through trust in the mercy of God. The second part is the conferring of the Holy Spirit with His gifts, who enlightens us against the defilements of spirit and flesh (2 Cor. 7:1). Thus we are defended against the opinions with which the devil seduces the whole world. Thus the true knowledge of God grows daily, together with other gifts, like chastity, obedience, and patience. Thus our body and its lusts are broken so that we do not obey them. Those who do not have this gift or do not use it this way, but fall into the uncleanness of either the flesh or the spirit, so that they approve of all doctrines without discrimination—they are dominated by the flesh, and they do not know the bath of the Holy Spirit for which David is asking here."

Psalm 51 "Have Mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love..."

Psalm 51:1     "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. "

AELW 12:324

"Now look how beautifully David combines these two things: first, that God is merciful, that is, that He freely blesses us undeserving ones; second, that He gives us the forgiveness of sins, which we accept by faith through the Holy Spirit and His promises. If God did not freely forgive, we should have no satisfaction and no remedy left. Not by our fasting nor by other works, not by angels nor by any other creature, is there salvation. Our only salvation is if we flee to the mercy of God and seek blessing and forgiveness from God, asking Him not to look at our sins and transgressions, but to close His eyes and to deal with us according to His steadfast love and abundant mercy. Unless God does this, we are not worthy of being granted one hour of life or one morsel of bread."

Psalm 51 - More of Luther's Introduction

AELW 12:306-307

"David’s sin is a very moving example of grace and sin. Indeed, if the Holy Scriptures had not told this story, who would ever have believed that such a holy man could sink so low? Through the Holy Spirit he had instituted the worship of the tabernacle. He had adorned this worship with holy songs. He had waged wars with great success. God had declared him to be a chosen man. He had a most glorious promise about the future Seed, Christ, whom the Prophets called the Son of David and the King of David. Why say more? There is no reason why he could not be rightly compared with Moses and Samuel. Yet such a man fell, not into some peccadillo, but at one time into a whole mass of sins. What is even worse, he fell into impenitence and deep smugness, so that if Nathan had not come, David might have sinned against the Holy Spirit.

The fact that such a great man—filled with the Holy Spirit, with the highest good works and divine wisdom, and famous above all for his outstanding gift of divine prophecy—should have fallen so miserably is an example for us, to comfort us when we are beset by sin and fall, or when our consciences are touched by a sense of the wrath and judgment of God. Here in a glorious example there shines the goodness and mercy of God, who is ready to forgive sins and to justify us, just as long as we do not add to our sin a denial that we have sinned."

Psalm 51 - Luther's Introduction

Luther's introduction to Psalm 51

AELW 12:303-304

"A knowledge of this psalm is necessary and useful in many ways. It contains instruction about the chief parts of our religion, about repentance, sin, grace, and justification, as well as about the worship we ought to render to God. These are divine and heavenly doctrines. Unless they are taught by the great Spirit, they cannot enter the heart of man. We see that our opponents have expended great effort and discussed this doctrine in many huge volumes. Yet none of them really understands the nature of repentance, sin, or grace. These words are like a dream to them, which leaves some traces in the mind but itself has utterly disappeared from the mind and the eyes. The reason for this blindness and ignorance is that true knowledge of these doctrines does not depend upon the intelligence and wisdom of human reason, nor is it born, so to speak, in our home or our hearts. But it is revealed and given from heaven. Where is there a man who could speak about repentance and the forgiveness of sins the way the Holy Spirit speaks in this psalm?"