Psalm 51, one line in this psalm
will be the title for this message. Let's begin reading in verse
one, and I'll point it out to you when we get to it. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy loving kindness. according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly
from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgressions, and. Now here's the title of our message. My sin is ever before me. My sin is ever before me. We can enter into that, can't
we? David felt that. These are the inspired words
of God, but David felt that and we feel that. My sin is ever
before me. I was just listening to the words
of that song, then go to a world that is dying. Go to a world
that is dying. I think about that a lot. It's what, you know, it's where
messages come. It's where motivation to preach
comes from. What makes a man want to stand
back up and tell these same things again and tell these same things
again? There's a world that is dying. There's a world that is
dying. And the great problem for this
world is This world's sin is not ever
before this world. That's the problem. The great
problem for humanity is humanity's sin is not ever before humanity. That is the root problem for
all of mankind. Their sin is not ever before
them. The reason there's so much sin
in this world is because this world's sin is not ever before
it. There's no true acknowledgement
of it. There's no constraint because
of that. There's no holding back. Men
and women cannot even see the sin that they're committing,
really. But God's people can. Most definitely not to the fullest
degree. Thank God. Thank God we cannot
see the sin that we really are. We wouldn't make it. We just
wouldn't make it. But to the degree that God will
allow us to see it, we can see it. And that's what causes all
of God's people to cry with David in verse one, have mercy upon
me, oh God. Have mercy upon me, oh God. Have mercy upon me. You know, we were all young once
and when we were young, we had no real concept of sin. When we were young, we stand
up here and we talk about sin. We talk about this word sin.
And when we were young, we didn't have any real concept of sin.
We most definitely didn't have any realization of our sin. The only thing that we knew of
our sin was when our parents told us we had disobeyed them.
You know, it was a shock to us. You know, you disobeyed me. Really? So we had to suffer some punishment
for it, and we had one brief moment of feeling sorry. Realistically, there was probably
more sorrow over getting caught than disobeying. That's so. But as time went on, and in the
Spirit of God, by God's grace, started revealing us to ourselves,
we started seeing something of our sin. We started seeing something
of our sin. We started to see not just sin
in the world. That's the first thing that people
see. You know, again, young people
start to grow up and the more you grow up, the more you are
exposed to the world and you get out into the world and you
start to realize there's sin out there. But by God's grace, we started
to see not just sin in the world, but sin in ourselves. And the longer we go, the worse
it gets. And that's the case for all of God's people. All
of God's people. If someone says, I don't know,
I don't really see that much sin in me. That's a bad state
to be in because that's the case for all of God's people. If anybody's
in that case, beg God to reveal it to you. It's there. It's there. Beg God to reveal it to you.
All of God's people know something of their sin, they are all brought
to a place where all they can do. And those of you who know
what I'm talking about, know what I'm talking about. We are
all brought to a place where all we can do is cry, have mercy
on me, oh God. That's where God brings his people. Have mercy upon me, oh God. That means have pity, that's
what it means. Have compassion on me, Lord. Show forgiveness to me. Show
forgiveness. That's all we can say. Show forgiveness.
Verse one says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving
kindness. That means according to your
grace, I'm asking for mercy. According to your grace, your
loving kindness. He goes on to say, according
unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. Aren't we so glad for
that? Multitude, multitude, new every morning. According to the
multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. That blot out means obliterate. When you look it up, that's what
it means. Obliterate. It means exterminate. completely
remove my transgressions. Verse two says, wash me throughly
from mine iniquity. and cleanse me from my sin. He
said, throughly, top to bottom, inside to out, relieve me of
my sin. That's what we need. That's what
we need. We need relief from it. We need the removal of it. I need the removal of my sin. That's something we cannot do
for ourselves. Only God can do that. literally worry themselves to
death trying to figure out how they can relieve themselves of
their sin. I got to quit sinning. I got
to stop sinning. I got to get rid of this sin.
That's something we cannot do for ourselves. Only God can do
that for us. Only the blood of Christ can
do that for us. Only the blood of Jesus Christ.
Verse three says, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin
is ever before me. I've seen them. You have revealed
them to me. You have caused me to see what
I am. I acknowledge them. I acknowledge
them. The things that we want so badly
to just go away and sweep under the rug and forget about, we
come to that place where all we can say is, I acknowledge
them. I bring them up to you. I say what they are in my heart
to you. I expose me. I expose myself. Verse four, against thee, thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou
mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou
judgest. I acknowledge that if your judgment
is against me, You will be just and right in judging me. That's something that it takes
the Spirit of God to put that in the heart of someone. By nature,
we're all innocent. We all think we're innocent.
Even if we're in prison, we still think we're innocent. It takes the Spirit of God to
reprove a sinner. That means convince a sinner.
I did it. And whatever you do, you're right,
you're right in your judgment against me. I acknowledge everything. Verse five, behold, I was shapen
in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Never has
there been a moment in my life when I was not a sinner against
you. I did not start out sinless. And then somewhere around, you
know, 10 years old, I slipped up and There has never been a
moment in my life when I have not been a sinner against you.
I entered this world in sin. I was conceived in sin. I entered
this world in sin. I have lived in sin ever since. Verse six, behold thou desirest
truth in the inward parts. I realize that, I know that.
And in the hidden part, thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Your truth, Lord, is gonna search
me out. And I know that Christ, the wisdom
of God, and the power of God is the only hope I have. I know
that. Verse seven, he said, purge me with hyssop. That's what the
high priest used to dip in the blood and sprinkle that on the
mercy seat. the sacrifice, the blood of the
sacrifice. Purge me with blood. Purge me
with the blood of the lamb. Purge me with the blood of God's
sacrifice. Purge me with Christ. Purge me
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse seven, purge me with hyssop
and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. You wash me and there will be
no spot on me. I know that. No blemish, no stain. Dark the stain that soiled man's
nature, long the distance that he fell, far removed from hope
in heaven and the deep despair in hell. But there was a fountain
open, and the blood of God's own Son purifies the soul and
reaches deeper than the stain is gone. No stain, no sin. Urge 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's what I need. That's what
I'm waiting for. That's what I'm looking for and
begging for. I'm asking for, Lord, make me
to hear joy and gladness. Relieve me. that the bones which
thou hast broken may rejoice. You've broken this heart, you've
broken my spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. The Lord will
hear. Lord, I'm crying, hear me. Deliver
me from this sorrow of sin. Deliver me to the rejoicing of
righteousness. Verse eight, make me to hear
joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Verse nine, he said, hide thy face from my sins. Hide thy face
from my sins. Hide thy face from my sins. Lord,
you see everything. Make it so that my sin cannot
be seen by you. How's that even possible? by you searching them out and
removing them, all of them. Search them all out. Don't leave
one sin unremoved. Don't leave one sin uncleansed,
unpurged, all of them, Lord. Verse nine, he said, blot out
all mine iniquities. Blot out all my iniquities. You ever think about the fact
that if Christ did not die for every single one of your sins,
I know for a fact, if you're anything like me, there are certain
things that certain components of your life that literally haunt
you. And you think, oh, if Christ
did not. Remove that, pay that. I'm a goner. All my sin, Lord,
from that little white lie to the greatest sin I've ever committed,
Lord, I need all of them, all of them. Verse 10, creating me
a clean heart, not a sinful heart, not a wicked heart. But I have
to live with every day here. Verse 10, he said, renew a right
spirit in me instead of this evil spirit that's in me. Verse 11, he said, cast me not
away. Cast me not away. Don't cast me away, Lord, please
don't cast me away. Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Don't leave me. Don't
leave me. Ruth said, entreat me not to
leave you. Please don't leave me. And don't
let me leave you. Don't leave me to myself. Please
don't leave me to myself. God's people pray that. God's
people cry that. Lord, please don't leave me to
myself. Verse 12, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and
uphold me with thy free spirit. Lord, encourage me, uphold me,
keep me. Please keep me. Verse 13. Then
will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted
unto thee. Lord, if you will do this for
me, I'll go and tell everybody how great things you have done
for me. I'll go to a world that is dying,
thy perfect salvation to tell. I'll go tell this world that
if you'll do it for me, you'll do it for anybody. You'll have
mercy on me, you'll have mercy on anybody. I'm the worst, I'm the chief. Verse 14, deliver me from blood
guiltiness. Oh God, thou God of my salvation,
in my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Lord, I'm
capable of anything. Deliver me from blood guiltiness. Deliver me from what I am and
deliver me from what I'm capable of. Deliver me from what I have
done and deliver me from what I'm capable of doing. Deliver
me. Verse 15, Oh Lord, open thou
my lips. and my mouth shall show forth
thy praise. Lord, if you will turn me, I'll
be turned. If you turn my eyes to the Lord
Jesus Christ, I'll look to you. If you will put praise in my
tongue, I will praise you. Verse 16, for thou desirest not
sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. Lord, I have nothing to offer
you. There's nothing I could sacrifice to you. There's nothing
I can do to appease you or to redeem myself. The only thing
that I have is a broken cry for mercy. That's all I have. A broken
cry for mercy. Verse 17, the sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. Please, I'm begging. Do we see
that he's been begging since verse 1 and he's still begging?
Do we see that? He has been begging and begging
and he's still begging. I am begging, Lord. I am pleading. Please. Verse 18, he said, Do
good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of
Jerusalem. Save us, Lord. Save me. Save me. I'm telling you, if
a soul cries that in sincerity and truth, begging for mercy,
that soul will have it. Save me, Lord. Save me. Please,
save me. If you do, verse 19, then shalt
thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness. If you put
me in Christ and save me in Christ, I know you'll be pleased with
Christ. You'll be pleased with the sacrifice of Christ. Then
shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering, offering for
sin. That's what it is. Then shall
they offer bullocks upon thine altar. You'll be pleased with
Christ. You'll be appeased with the offering
of Christ. Please have mercy on me. Please
have mercy on me. Lord, please have mercy on me. Do we hear Mercy's cry? He started out crying. He kept
crying. Come the end of the verse, end
of the Psalm, he's still crying. Last verse, he's still crying.
Please, please. Okay. Psalm 51 is Mercy's cry. Okay. Start to finish. Psalm
51 is mercy's cry. It is the mercy cry of a sinner
whose sin is ever before him or her. It started out with David's
sin ever before him, and by the time we got to the end of the
Psalm, his sin was still ever before him, and he's still crying. All right, that is the mercy
cry of a sinner whose sin is ever before him or her. And this
is the gospel cry to that sinner. I want to show you something
wonderful. This has really blessed me. We just read the cry of a sinner
whose sin is ever before him or her. Turn with me to the book
of Micah. At the end of the Old Testament,
in my Bible, it's page 1157, Micah chapter 7. 1157 is my page.
We just read the mercy cry. of a sinner whose sin is ever
before him or her. This is the gospel cry to the
sinner in need of mercy. The louder the sinner's cry for
mercy is, the louder the gospel cry to the sinner is. All right,
look at Micah chapter 7. Actually, turn the page. It's
verse 18. Micah 7 verse 18, it says, now
listen to this, it says, who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever
because He delighteth in mercy. Now watch verse 19. He will turn
again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities. And that will cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. All of them. All of them. to the sinner who is crying out
to God for mercy. The gospel cries to that sinner,
in Christ, because of Christ, by the work of Jesus Christ,
all of your sins have been cast into the depth of the sea. All
of them. All your sins are at the bottom
of the sea. How'd they get down there? Christ
took them there. Christ took all of the sins of
all of His people all the way down to the depths of the sea,
to the depths He bore them, to the depths. Our Lord said concerning
the salvation of His people, He said, no sign shall be given
but the sign of Jonah. As Jonah was in the belly of
that whale, that took him all the way down to the depths of
the sea. He said, that's what the greater
than Jonah is going to do for you concerning your sin. Turn
back about four pages to Jonah chapter 2. This is a picture of Christ in
the very depths that He bore the sin of His people to. Jonah
chapter 2 verse 1, it says, Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his
God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of
mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me. Out of the belly
of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast
me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed
me about. All thy billows and thy waves
passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of
thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters
compassed me about even to the soul. The depth closed me round
about. The weeds were wrapped about
my head. I went down to the bottom of
the mountains. The earth with her bars was about
me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life
from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came in unto thee,
into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. Christ took all the sin of his
people down to the bottom of the depths of the sea And he
left them there. He left them there. And they're
gone. They're gone. Well, wait a minute. What if they come back? What if they float back up to
the top? The sea is just water. What if somebody really does
come up with a submersible submarine that's capable of going down
there and scooping them all back up? Just because they've been taken
to the bottom of the depths of the sea, how can I know that
they're gone forever? If that's where He took them,
how can I know they're gone forever? Turn to Revelation 21. Revelation 21 verse one says. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away. And there was no more sea. Does that bless your heart? There
was no more sea. Not only are there no more sins
because they're in the depths of the sea, there's no more sea. And that's not a sea of water,
that's a sea of wrath. That's a sea of condemnation.
That's what it is. There's an ocean of wrath and
an ocean of condemnation and an ocean of judgment. A sea of
judgment. He said, I saw a new heaven and
a new earth and there was no more sea. It's gone. The sins
are gone. The sea is gone. Christ ensured
that there was no possible way for the sins of his people to
ever return. And that makes me glad. That
makes me glad. He dropped him in the bottom
of the sea and then did away with the sea. David said in Psalm
51, Lord, if you have mercy on me, if you purge me, if you blot
out my transgressions, and if you deliver me from all my iniquities,
remove them to the place that they're gone, I will rejoice,
I will give thanks, I will sing praise, and I'll tell every soul
I can that salvation is of the Lord. The Lord, by his mercy and his
grace, has done great things for us, and we're glad, aren't
we? So glad. Amen.