On the face of it, these two
verses, the 23rd and 24th verse of the 139th Psalm might seem
to be fairly easy to absorb and to accept as something which
we would automatically say. But if we think of it very carefully,
we will realize that to actually pray such a prayer as this will
have tremendous effect and tremendous result in our lives. But we're thankful that we have
such a prayer by God's servant David. And it is indeed a prayer
which was from his heart It wasn't just a theory. He didn't just
think, well, I ought to really be like this. I ought to really
pray like this. Because he was concerned about
it. And the beginning of this psalm,
we read, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest
my down-sitting and my uprising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. And we might think, well, David,
why repeat such a statement here? Surely that was satisfactory
and surely you know that everything's been okay. Well, David knew by
the Spirit of God the effect of sin in his heart. And he knew
he needed to be reminded. And he knew he needed to be searched
out. And he knew he needed to be examined. And one of the reasons, of course,
for that is as we read The heart is to seek but above all things
and desperately wicked. Now the last thing our great
adversary the devil wants you and me to do is to pray such
a prayer as this. Because he wants us to go on
in our own way. And our own way may appear to
be a good way. We may appear to be all right
on the outside. But you see, David goes a lot
deeper than that. He says, and search me, O God, and know my
heart. And that's where real religion
lives and real religion exists. It's not on the surface, and
that's not to say, of course, that the effect of God's grace
will produce a godly life externally. But the most vital thing is that
we have the godly life internally. And therefore we're not left
to ourselves. We're not left to be hypocrites. Indeed as we meditated last Friday
in that Sermon on the Mount, we're coming right to the end
of that and the seventh Chapter verses 21 and 23. You may remember the Lord said,
not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father,
which is in heaven. And there's a great distinction.
between those two statements, Lord, Lord, and doing the will
of God the Father, which is in heaven. And he went on to say,
many will say to me in that day, that last day, that great day
of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied, have we not
preached in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. But you
see, such things do not count. And then will I profess unto
thee, them I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. So how important it is that we're
able to come honestly along with David and ask God to just do
just that for us, to be searched out. So that we're not amongst
those who pretend to be Christians. And we may be able to do wonderful
things. And we may be thought well of. But the burning question
is, what does God think of us? Because God looks into our heart. You and I only see each other
in our outward form, don't we? I have no idea what you're thinking
at this time. And you have no idea what's in
my mind. But God does. And that's why
the Psalmist David was concerned. He wanted to have a right religion. He wanted to have a religion
that would lead him into the way everlasting. He didn't want
to be left with a false religion. And what a good thing that is
for you and me today, if we're concerned about our religion. And you might think, well, I'm
all right, I'm doing this and I'm doing that, and I'm sure
everything's all right. The true child of God is concerned
to have the evidence again and again that they are born again
in the Spirit. They look back and thank God
for the evidences which they have had. but they'll want to
receive more. They won't just rely on those
things which have passed. You know, the Apostle Paul tells
us, pressing toward the mark that's set before us. He had
enjoyed many great blessings, hadn't he? But the Apostle Paul
didn't settle down. He didn't say, well, I've got
everything I need. No, he tells us very blessedly,
For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. His heart was
set upon one thing. And what was that? Union and
communion with Christ. And you didn't want to be deceived. And what a blessing is if you
and I walk in the same way. We don't want to be deceived.
Because if we are deceived, the end will be terrible. Terrible. You know, sometimes I think there
really can be nothing worse, nothing worse than finding ourselves
in hell and yet having heard the gospel perhaps all our life. But we've only heard it with
our natural ears. We've never heard it with our
spiritual ears. Our eyes have never been opened
to behold the glories of salvation, and never been opened to see
the wonderful plan of God, and never been opened to realize
our tremendous need of a Savior, and be led then to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, if we're concerned, here
is a prayer. David was a man of God, and David
was born of the Spirit. And yet this was the prayer of
David. And here we have, therefore, the evidence and the example
and the testimony of a godly man. And you and I today, surely
we need to be found walking in a right path. Forget what people
say. Listen to what God says. The
devil will get plenty of people to give us accolades and say,
well, you're a wonderful person and you do this and you do that.
Well, God looks in our heart. And God sees there every desire. He sees every lack of desire.
He sees every good motive. He sees every wrong motive. He
sees every good thought. He sees every wrong thought.
Nothing is hidden from the all-seeing eye of Almighty God. We sometimes forget That we're
not dealing with a mere man. We're dealing with an almighty
God. And that God has abilities which
you and I can just not understand. We cannot comprehend. It is so
great. Our God is so great. And we are
so small. And we are so insignificant.
And we're so sinful. And so what a blessing it is
if the Holy Spirit produces in our heart a prayer like this. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Now, in reality, it won't be an easy
prayer to pray. You might say, well, why do you
say that? I say that because, as I've already said, the heart
is deceitful and desperately wicked. And perhaps we won't
want some of our thoughts disturbed. We won't want to have to stop
thinking some of the things we do. We want to be able to carry
on. And what a blessing if the Lord
puts his finger on such things. as we are able to pray like this.
Search me, O God, and know my heart. As the Lord comes then
and touches us, because the Lord knows what's wrong and what's
right, and often we know what's wrong and what's right. Sometimes
we don't always, but mostly we do, and yet sometimes we're content. Isn't it sad? We're content to
continue in a sinful condition. Again, it may be things that
only God knows, no one else knows. And we may appear very good and
spiritually healthy, but in actual fact we may not be so. We may
not be spiritually healthy. We may be black inside. What a mercy then, if the Lord
gives us that grace to pray a prayer like this in honesty. And it
will be a great blessing, because naturally, you and I won't really
want to pray this. We may pretend to say it's a
good prayer, but if you'll just analyze your heart very carefully,
you'll find you don't really want to pray it. So that what
it means is this. that we should desire to live
a holy life, we should desire to have holy thoughts, we should
desire to have godly desires and thoughts, and not therefore
give way to the temptations the devil brings into our minds and
into our lives. And sometimes, you know, they're
crowded like a flood, don't they? We never wanted them, we never
expected them. The devil knows how to do it.
And that's why the Lord very graciously gives us a prayer
like this. To come and to search it, search
ourselves. Yes, we don't have to search
other people. We don't have to look at what they're doing. David
comes and it's personal. And your religion and my religion
is personal. Because you and I have to stand
before God. No one else can stand there for us. Apart from, of course, the blessed
saviour himself. But no natural person can stand
on our behalf. We have to stand before the judge
of all the earth. So what a mercy if we're able
to come and say, search me, O God, and know my heart and try me. You know, this word try really
means to investigate. Investigate. That means to dig
down, have a good look, see what there is. Not just something
on the surface. Just see whether there are any
sinful desires. Whether there are any sinful
motives. Yes, you see, the flesh doesn't like being disturbed
sometimes. The flesh likes to carry on. What a blessing, then, if the
Spirit of God gives us a desire, like he gave David, and bless
God, the Spirit influenced David to write down such desire, such
prayers, that we can trace out his life. and see that there
are many wrong things in David's life because to some extent we
have his life opened up to us in the Psalms and we should be
very thankful for it because we can then find an echo perhaps
in our little lives and so search me O God and know my heart and
try me and know my thoughts We don't like to be investigated,
do we? We sometimes don't like to be
cross-examined naturally. But you see, when God does it,
God doesn't leave any stone unturned. God puts his finger on everything. Nothing is hidden. from Almighty
God. Again, as I mentioned on Lord's
Day, David thought he covered his sin up quite nicely. His
sin of adultery against Bathsheba and the murder of her husband.
Yes, he didn't want it to appear as murder. He wanted it just
to appear that her husband had been killed in a battle. Well,
it was, of course, the way that David instructed Joab to plant
him in the forefront so that he would be killed. We would
think, wouldn't we, that under such a situation, David would
be so cut down and so mortified, but not so until the Lord came. And when the Lord came, of course,
through Nathan the prophet, again, it's wonderful how the Lord works,
you see. Nathan was called and Nathan
gave that The parable of the ewe lamb. And there was that
man who had the only one little ewe lamb. And the wealthy man
came and he took that ewe lamb instead of taking his own. And
of course David was very annoyed and very angry about such a situation. Not realizing what he'd done. But you see, God's time had come
to convince David of his sin. Now you and I may perhaps not
have been left to commit adultery or murder, at least in an outward
way, but we may have done it inwardly. We may have done it
inwardly, and therefore we are condemned. And Nathan just said,
thou art the man, or the arrow of conviction, went home, didn't
it? Into David's heart. And if you and I have a desire
to walk a godly life and be a godly person and have godly desires,
then expect that perhaps the Lord will come and put his finger
on perhaps sins we may have done years ago. and we may have forgotten
about them, or at least tried to forget about them. Well, what
a mercy it is when we come like David came. The Lord searched
him out. The Lord showed him his thoughts.
He wasn't allowed to escape from them, was he? And he came and
said against thee, the only have I sinned. Sometimes it's just really between
you and God. And when I say that, I mean this.
Our thoughts and God. No one else knows our thoughts. But God does. And it's right
to pray this. But my friends, don't be surprised
if sometimes you find it's a painful awakening. perhaps things that
you've forgotten about you have to then come and to confess them
confess them and this is where the blessing of the gospel comes
in because the Lord tells us if we confess our sins he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. And my friends, we need all of
our sins, all of our sins, all of our sins to be forgiven, to
be washed away. We don't want to find that there's
some that haven't been forgiven. Search me, oh God, and know my
heart. Try me. Investigate me, Lord. Just see
whether I've forgotten something. Just see, Lord, whether there
are those things which are a hindrance to me in my Christian path. There may be things which are
hindering us. Things that you and I will have
to come and to confess. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just. to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We read together that earlier
psalm, that 19th psalm again, a psalm of David, and as he comes
toward the end of that psalm, he makes this statement in the
12th verse, who can understand his errors? You see, sometimes
we make mistakes, we make errors, and we don't always understand
or appreciate them at the time. Who can understand his errors? And again, you might ask, well,
why is that? I'll tell you why it is. Because
the devil endeavors to blind us from such situations. So we don't actually see They
are sins. In actual fact, we thought probably
they were okay. There wasn't a problem. And so, he says, who
can understand his errors? And then he makes this, again,
this prayer, this desire, cleanse thou me from secret faults. Yeah, secret faults. Again, let us be aware of what
that really means. It means something between you
and God. something which is secret, and
David wanted to be cleansed from it. Now it's a great blessing
if you and I are brought to the condition where we desire to
be cleansed from our secret faults. Yes, not those things which are
obvious, those things which everybody can point their finger at and
say, well, you've done that and so on. It's those things between
your soul and God. And of course it comes very close,
doesn't it? And it's things that we don't
like to have to do. We don't like to find that we've
got these errors. We like to think we're pretty
good, and the things that we think and the things that we
say are okay. But here we have this statement
again from David, and he says, who could understand his errors? We don't always understand them.
We go on blindly, satisfied with our errors, patting ourselves
on the back perhaps, thinking we've done a good thing. Yet
you see, what is there? There may have been a totally
wrong motive. It wasn't for God's glory, it
was for our glory. God is a jealous God. God will
have the glory and therefore what a mercy if he comes and
shows us that we have these errors and given grace to pray that
he will cleanse us, that we may be made clean from secret faults,
secret faults. The Word of God is very dividing,
isn't it? And it's dividing to the true Church of God. Those
who are just, I might say, nominal Christians, who just say they're
Christians, and don't walk it out, and don't walk it out in
their life or in their private life. You see, religion doesn't
just exist between as we walk in the world, it does, but it
also does when we're by ourselves. So that's when it really shows
forth, when you're by yourself, when there's no one to see what
you're doing. No one can see you. What do you do then? What do you think then? That's the critical thing, isn't
it? That's when we stand just before God. No one else sees
us, but God sees us, and he sees our thoughts, he sees our desires,
everything is there, and that's why surely David comes and says
here, he perhaps knew himself more than perhaps we know ourselves,
and he came and he prayed in this way. Search me, O God, and
know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And this word, try, does seem
to be very significant. It really means to be investigated. I think that God investigates
us. And God comes, as it were, and
questions us as to whether what we were thinking Perhaps we're
building, as it were, sand castles in the air. Perhaps we're covetous. It's very easy, you know, to
be covetous in our thoughts. It's very easy to be lustful
in our thoughts. It's very easy to be a murderer
in our thoughts. All these things, you see, the
devil will stir up. Why? He wants us to sin. He wants us to sin so much that
there's no hope. Well, he's wrong. There's always
hope. There's always hope. We're thankful
that we have, therefore, brought to this place. And then as the
Lord may show us something of our true condition, we're grateful
then for the wonderful prayer that the Lord recorded of that
publican. who came and said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now that wasn't just mere words. The old Pharisee, he just prayed
in mere words. He was satisfied with his religion. He wanted everybody to see him,
he's still in the corners. So everybody was able to praise
him for the great person that he was. Not so the publican,
not so the true child of God. God be merciful to me a sinner. And so you see, if we're able
to pray a prayer like this, and it's a good thing to do so, it's
written here necessarily for you and me today. It's written
here for the Church of God down to the ages, right up to the
end of time. It's nothing which becomes old-fashioned,
just like that prayer of the publican. It doesn't go out of
date. And so if we pray like this, search me, O God, and know
my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And again, it's so important
that you and I have right thoughts in our heart. And I was struck
today when I was reading through Matthew's gospel and one of the
chapters we read yes in the 18th chapter and the
last verse in the 18th chapter well perhaps read before that
23rd verse we read shouldest not thou also have had compassion
on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee. Again, if
we bring things back to an analogy like that, and see what the Lord
has done for us, we should echo that picture with those we deal
with. And his Lord was wroth and delivered
him to the tormentors, that he should pay all that was due unto
him. So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do also unto you, if ye, and this is it, from your hearts,
forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. Again, words
are easy. If somebody offends, if somebody
does something which is wrong, it's not a question of just saying,
oh, will I forgive you? Because that may not be true.
It has to be from our heart. Very
important. If ye from your hearts forgive
not everyone his brother their trespasses. And let us not forget, we expect to be forgiven every
sin to get to glory. Every sin. Can we therefore expect to get
the glory if we haven't forgiven someone? We have the example of the Saviour. He forgave us for all our sins,
bad and terrible and vile as they were. We should therefore
forgive everyone. who sinned against us. Yes, we
should not hold anything against people. And again, that's a good
testimony. Search me, O Lord, and know my
heart. You see, it comes right home,
doesn't it? As to whether we are truly in that situation,
in that condition, to have a truly forgiving spirit to everyone,
whatever it may be. There's no statements, well,
of course, that kind of thing you can just live with and carry
on because it really was a really bad situation. No, the Word of
God is very complete. We are to forgive everybody.
And it's again, it's good when you and I are able to pray a
prayer like this and the Lord fires an arrow into our heart
and we realize, hold on a minute, I've got this I haven't done
and this I haven't said. We've kept it all close and we
thought, oh, it's all right, carry on. That's why David wanted
such a situation like this. You may remember in the 51st
Psalm, he asked for this great blessing, create in me a clean
heart, a clean heart. What a mercy, if you and I desire
that today. David came and he confessed his
sins and he asked for mercy according to thy loving kindness. Now David knew the loving kindness
of the Lord. Now, my friends, if you are not
able to confess our sins, to be shown those things perhaps
we didn't really know existed, and to realize that as the Lord
gives us grace to confess our sins, it's because of His loving
kindness toward us. Isn't that a wonderful thought?
His loving kindness, oh, how great! According unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. David relied
upon the goodness of the Lord. And so will you and me today.
We'll rely on the goodness of the Lord. And he wanted to be,
wash me throughly, completely, everything taken away. He wanted
to be clean. and cleanse me from my sin, for
I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me.
Again, grace to confess our sins. It's a good thing. One of the
most blessed things that you and I walk out is to confess
and to say we're sorry. Not easy, very hard, but when
we're able to come and say that, what a relief there is to our
spirits. And what a relief, perhaps, when we come to God and confess
our sins, that we disobeyed the Lord. We disobeyed His commands. We haven't done His will. And
we're really sad and we're really sorry for it. And we come like
David did, I acknowledge my transgressions. Yes, it's not the things perhaps
always that we do, it's the things that we don't do. They're sinful
as well. And so he tells us, he says,
Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts. Again, it's
not just an outward show, because God deals with us in our hearts. And we need to be honest with
ourselves, We need to be honest with our heart. Thou desirest truth in the inward
parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Again, that's heavenly wisdom,
that's godly wisdom, when the Lord shows us the innermost thoughts
of our hearts. And he says, purge me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones
which thou hast broken may rejoice. Sometimes our bones are broken
because we walk contrary to our God. We walked in an opposite
way. We've fallen over, and bones
have been broken. Well, here comes David and asks
that they might, the bones of his house broken may rejoice.
And he goes on then, created me a clean heart. Oh God, and
renew a right spirit within me. These are very important words,
aren't they? How often we have a wrong spirit, you see. He wanted
a right spirit. And bless God, if you and I are
able to pray like this, Search me, O God, and know my heart,
and try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked
way in me, any wicked way. Lord, do investigate. Do let
me see if there's anything there inside me which is wrong, which
is sinful. O Lord, and see if there be any
wicked way in me. any wicked way. He wanted the
Lord to reveal everything. Now, as I said earlier, it's
a great blessing if God gives us grace to seek this. It's not
easy. It's not easy. Because we like
to hold on to certain things. But David was able to tell us
this. And he says, cast me. not away from thy presence, and
take not thy Holy Spirit from me." The inference there is very
clear. He feared it might be. And if the Holy Spirit shows
us something of our innermost sins, we may perhaps fear that
the Lord will cast us away Well, we're thankful to know that we
have a compassionate and a merciful God who does not deal with us
as our sins deserve. And as we come to the end of
this psalm, David says, O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth
shall show forth thy praise. The praise of thankfulness to
his God, for his forgiveness, for his mercy, for his love,
for his great grace, for thou desirest not sacrifice, else
will I give it, thou delightest not in burnt offerings. And here
he tells us what the Lord desires. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit. What does that mean? It means
we fall down before God mourning and weeping because of our sins. Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning. Joy to know that Lord Jesus Christ
has died to take away our sins. We may mourn because of them,
mourn because of the things the Lord shows us, as we pray to
be searched and then to realise we have a great and glorious
Saviour. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O Lord, Thou wilt not
despise. No, it's his work. What a mercy
it is to realize we have, therefore, a kind and a gracious and a long-suffering
God. And so he says, and see if there
be any wicked way in me. And what was his real desire? We're told, and lead me in the
way everlasting. We might say his great fear was
to be left out. His great fear was to be not
led in the way everlasting. And that's why he desired before
God to be right and not be left to be a hypocrite, one who pretended
to be what he was not. He wanted God to show him. He
wanted to be right and therefore he wanted to be led in the way
everlasting. The way everlasting of course
is that path That narrow path that leads to heaven at last.
Eternal glory. Eternal glory. How important
and good it is if you and I do have our hearts and our affections
set upon things above that we view the end of the road of this
life. We look forward. to that inheritance,
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. And
to believe, therefore, that by His grace, by His grace, it is
reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God,
through grace, under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. It's all of grace, my friends,
all this is. And what a blessing it is, therefore,
if the Holy Spirit gives us a desire to hear the Word of the Lord.
And the Word of the Lord is to us tonight to pray like this,
to pray the Lord will indeed be gracious to us, and to desire
that we really might pray it from our heart. Search me, O
God, and know my heart, try me, investigate me, and know my thoughts,
and see if there'd be any wicked way in me. He didn't want any
stone to be left unturned. He wanted everything to be examined,
to see whether there was any fault there, and if there was,
and that he might be delivered from it, and then, therefore,
to be led by the Savior, led in the way everlasting. What
a mercy then to be found in that way, that way everlasting. And
how will it be? How will we be in that way? There's
only one way, isn't there? Looking unto Jesus. Looking unto
Jesus. He's our great and glorious example. If we need any help, if we need
any direction as to just how we should walk and what we should
do, look to the Saviour. There we have a wonderful example. Who pleased not himself, he did
the will of his Father. And that's what you and I are
called to do today. We are called to do the will
of our Father. We're called to walk in accordance
with His way, not our way. Remember in the Proverbs we read
on two occasions, there is a way that seemeth right unto a man. Just seems right. But, the end
thereof, the ways of death. Don't walk in a way that seems
right. Walk in a way that is right. And the way that is right
is in accordance with the Word of God. And my friends, as you
and I are given grace to walk in that way, you know we have
the answer of a good conscience. And that means we have peace
with God, And we go on and we're rejoicing and thankful to know
that His grace has touched our hearts and made us willing in
the day of His power to come like this and to pray a prayer
like this. and to seek that through these
things, His name will be honoured and glorified. That should be
always our great concern in our little lives, that His name is
honoured and glorified and to Him shall be all the praise for
all that He's done. Never forget what the Saviour's
done to redeem our souls. Oh, never forget. As we come
like this and we see our sins and more and more sins are churned
up, We remember those gracious words, redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. Yes, the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses from all sin, all sin. We have a glorious Saviour. What
a mercy then, if the Spirit of God brings us here to this prayer,
and then the Spirit of God shows us our need and leads us to the
saviour and at that place and in that path we find peace with
God which leads in the way everlasting. Amen.