Go with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 51. Psalm 51. This has to be a favorite
psalm for every child of God. We all have our favorites. We all have certain favorites.
We shouldn't, but we do. But this one has to be included
in everybody's favorite. It just has to. And the reason
is because it perfectly describes what is in our hearts. I was
just sitting right there thinking, what are we doing? Why are we
here? You think about, what are we
doing here? Really, why are we doing this?
There's a lot of options for humans. There's restaurants. There are movies. There's the
couch. What do we do? Is this real?
What are we doing here? And for God's child, God's spirit
moves on the heart of that child and he convinces that child,
I know exactly what I'm doing here. I know exactly why I'm
here. There is something real in the
heart of every child of God. God's people make prayer requests. We pray to God. Wednesday night
used to be called prayer meeting. A lot of people would call it
prayer meeting. We're going to get together for prayer. We're
going to call on our God. And we make requests, we pray
to the Father. And you know, the world calls
these things foolishness. This is silly. Who are you talking
to? Believers know. They know. The Lord does a work, they call
out to him. We request many things. We request many, many things. But in this chapter right here,
David specifically requests ten things. And these ten things,
I believe every child of God with sincerity will say, this
is at the bottom of my heart. This is my heart's desire. This is what I want. This is
what I need. The first one, verse one, David
said, Have mercy upon me, O God. First thing, right out of the chute, he does
not say another word about anything. Nothing else comes before that. Have mercy on me. We don't deserve forgiveness. We don't deserve forgiveness.
We deserve damnation. David knows that. So David does
not ask for justice. He does not ask for justice. He asked for mercy. Lord, I am
begging for mercy. I am begging for sovereign mercy. I'm begging for sovereign mercy,
if God ever gets a hold of a sinner. If God does not ever get a hold
of a sinner, that sinner will hear these things, that sinner
will live this life, go through this life, hear about church,
hear about Jesus, hear about a cross, hear about heaven, hear
about all these things, and it'll mean nothing. And it'll do nothing. But if God ever reaches a sinner's
heart on purpose, and if he wants to, he will. If God ever grabs
hold of a sinner, that sinner will start begging for sovereign
mercy. He just will. She just will.
Sovereign mercy. This word right here from God
will sink into that person's heart. God said, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have mercy." And this is
what everyone will cry. Every child of God, he'll cry,
have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. That song says,
pass me not, O gentle Savior. In that last day, everyone's going to be standing
on this earth. And he said, two are going to be in the field,
one is going to be taken, one is going to be left. Two are going to
be grinding at the mill, one is going to be taken, one is
going to be left. Lord, take me. Don't leave, don't pass me
by. Please don't pass me by. Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. Now John
said, here is love. Not that we loved God. I had
a man, I talked to him a while back. I was, I'd been here for
a while, but he was asking about the church and what's the name
of the church. Nobody knows what the word sovereign
means. So what do you preach? And I tried my best to explain
it to him in, you know, a minute. And he was not interested and
had no idea what I was talking about. So he cut me off. And
he said, let me ask you this. Do you love Jesus? And I said, yes, I do. But the
more important question is, does he love me? Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation,
the covering for our sins. That pouring, atoning covering
for our sins. Lord, be a propitiation for me. Please. Please. cover what I am, and take what
I deserve. That's our number one prayer
request, isn't it? That is number one. Verse one says, Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. He said, I'm guilty of a great
multitude of sins, and we are. We are. But he said, would you
completely remove and would you completely do away with the record and the
remembrance of every single one of them? Lord, would you do that?
Would you do that? You know, the Lord said one time,
ask me a hard thing. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Lord, would you remove all the record and all the remembrance
of my sin? Would you be willing to do that?
Turn with me over to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43 verse 25. I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins. That's just great. That is great. Look at Isaiah 44 verse 21. Remember
these, O Jacob and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed
thee. Thou art my servant. O Israel,
thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I will not forget you. I
have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud
thy sins. Return unto me, for I have redeemed
thee. Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord
hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, ye
mountains, O forest, and every tree therein, for the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel. The Lord redeemed
His sinful people and glorified Himself in the process. Back
over in Psalm 51, here is the second prayer request. Verse 2, David said, Wash me
throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Sin
ruins everything. If God does not intervene, sin
will ruin everything. It will ruin everything. If God
did not keep us and keep this ministry and protect our relationships
and protect our love for each other and protect all these things,
sin would ruin this place. Sin would ruin this man. It's restraining grace that there's
any goodness in the world. Sin ruins everything. It defiles us. It makes us filthy. It corrupts everything we put
our hands to, every single thing. Isaiah said, we are all as an
unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And nothing
in and nothing of this flesh can help us. Nothing. The law cannot wash us. Obey God and everything will
be okay. The law cannot wash us. You know, do good and be a Christian
and obey the Bible. and go to church, the law cannot
wash us. All we are is a sinner in church.
Isn't that right? There is no difference between
the pew and the gutter. We're defiled. We're absolutely
defiled. Our works cannot wash us. God himself must wash us in his
own blood. He must. David said, if you wash
me, I'll be clean. Only way I'll be clean. Verse
three, he said, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin
is ever before me. And that's what we're doing.
That's what believers do. We're not holy rollers. This
place is not a holier than thou place. David said, I acknowledge my
transgressions, my sin is ever before me. 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. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth
in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. He said, I confess. That's what
he's saying. I confess. I absolutely confess. Cleaning up on the outside is
no good. You're looking on the heart. You're looking on the
inside. Not only the sin that other men
see, but the sin that's on the inside, the sin of the heart.
He said, I confess. So my plea is to you. My plea
is to the one I've offended. It's all against you. He said,
forgive me and wash me. And here's his third prayer request,
verse 7. Purge me. Purge me. Don't you want that?
Lord, have mercy on me and forgive me. Wash this filth off of me
and get the filth out of me. Wash it off and remove it from
me. Purge me. Psalm 139 says, Search
me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts,
and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting. He said in verse 7, Purge me
with hyssop. What is hyssop used for? It's
dipped in the blood. Hyssop was what that priest dipped
in the blood and he went in and covered the mercy seat with blood.
I love how in Hebrews it says Moses grabbed Hyssop and he started
covering everything with blood. He covered the mercy seat, he
covered the tabernacle, he covered the people, he covered everything
with blood. Dip Hyssop in your blood and
cover me. Purge me with Hyssop, he said
in verse 7. and I shall be clean. Wash me
and I shall be whiter than snow." I love this. Go over with me
to Revelation 7. Revelation 7 verse 9. After this I beheld and lo a
great multitude which no man could number of all nations and
kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before
the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. and
cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth
upon the throne and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood
round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts,
and fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God,
saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and
honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said
unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation. and have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." I've always thought about the
fact that our Lord's blood is scarlet red, isn't it? You think
about dipping something down in scarlet red. An amazing thing
happens when you dip a filthy, vile, wretched, stained sinner
down in the scarlet red blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
come out whiter than snow. Our Lord said, Whenever he was
up on the Mount of Transfiguration and he was altered and Peter,
James, and John saw him as he was, they said, he was so white,
no fuller on earth can white that white. It's whiter than
anything you've ever seen. It's cleaner. You can't imagine. You know, eye hath not seen,
ear hath not heard, neither entered into the heart of man the things
that God hath prepared for them that love him. You can't imagine
how white it is. You can't imagine how clean it
is. You can't imagine how spotless
it is. Have you ever seen something and like, wow, that's clean?
You can't imagine how clean God's people are after they have been
washed in the blood of the Lamb. You just cannot imagine. David
said, you purge me and I'll be whiter than snow. That's wonderful. Go back to Psalm 51. Here's the
fourth prayer request. Verse 8. He said, Make me to hear joy
and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. I'll tell you this. If a sinner
ever hears God say to his heart, I forgive you. I forgive you. I've washed you. I've purged you in my blood and
I forgive you. If a sinner ever hears that in
his heart, he has heard joy. He's heard joy. There is no greater
rejoicing that could take place than that. Comfort is all a believer desires. Isn't that right? That's why
we're here. Why are we here? Our Lord said,
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Lord, comfort us. Comfort my
heart through your mercy. Comfort my heart through your
grace. There is no greater misery than guilt. I can't stand guilt. I hate guilt. It makes me feel
so guilty. It's miserable. We feel it all
the time. We do something all the time
and think, I wish I hadn't done that. There is no greater misery
than the feeling of guilt, the guilt of sin before God. But
there's no greater joy than knowing, as verse 9 says, that He has
hid His face from our sins and blotted out all our iniquities.
He's put away our guilt. He bore our guilt. Not only is there joy with us,
you know, the Lord reveals these things to us and He causes us
to need it. We need mercy. We need forgiveness.
We need relief. And He reveals this to us and
He goes to work on our hearts. He goes to work on our minds.
We see God as He is. We bow to it. It's called repentance. It brings joy to our heart. But
not only our heart, At the exact moment that every single sinner
repents, all those angels erupt in joy every single time one
sinner repents. I would love to see that. I'd
love to see that. I've always thought I'd love
to just stay on the earth till the Lord comes back so he can
just take me on. But I'd miss seeing all those
angels rejoice over sinners that are repenting. Heaven erupts. Absolute joy. Now look at David's
fifth request and tell me if this is the desire of your heart.
Verse 10, he said, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me. What he's saying is make the
crooked straight. Please, please, make the wrong
right. You know what I am? Scripture
talks about lip service, just saying stuff because you think
people want to hear it. This is not lip service. You
know what I am? Wrong. Crooked. That's what this flesh
is. Lord, make the wrong right. Make the crooked straight. Take
out this heart of stone. We think we're doing good and
getting better and growing in grace, and then all of a sudden,
there's that heart of stone again, isn't it? Take out the heart
of stone. Put in a heart of flesh. Lord,
take pride away. Put in humility. What do I have
to be proud of? Lord, take away anger. Put love
in there. Lord, you said you were going
to create a new creature. You said you would create a brand
new man. Could I please see him? I'd love to see him. Lord, I
want to be like you. I want to be like you. That's
our heart's desire, and I want to be like him. Our Lord said, ask and you'll
receive. Ask and you shall receive. Lord,
because of your mercy, because of your washing, because of your
purging, would you put a right spirit in me? Please, I would
love to have a right spirit. What is that right spirit? Our
Lord said, I'll give you two things. Love the Lord your God
with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your
strength, and love your brethren. He said, by this, this is how
you're gonna know that my spirit is in you. You're gonna love
God, and you're gonna love your brethren. Now here's David's
sixth prayer request. Verse 11, he said, cast me not
away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Do we ever do anything that is
worthy of him casting us away? Do we ever provoke him with things
that he ought to cast us away for? He ought to cast us away
for that. We do it every single day. We do it every hour, every minute,
every second. But do you know what he said?
He said, every soul that my father gives to me shall come to me.
And they're going to come for mercy. and they're going to come
for washing, and they're going to come for purging, and they're
going to come for comfort, and they're going to come for a clean
heart." And he said, every single one of them that comes, I will
in no wise cast out. In no wise. I'll give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. We cried, Lord, don't cast us
away. He says, I'll never do it. I
will never, no never, no never forsake. Never. David's seventh prayer request,
verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. I was talking
to one of the brethren today. And he was telling me how grieved
he was because he could not love the Lord his God like he wanted
to and like he knew he should. But he said then it came to his
mind that the Lord Jesus Christ perfectly loved God for him. Does that comfort your heart? It hit him that the Lord Jesus
Christ literally loved God his Father with all his heart, all
his soul, all his mind, all his strength. And he gave that love to us. I am such a pitiful excuse for
a follower of Christ But Christ is the most incredible follower
of Christ that could ever be. And everything we cannot do,
He did for us. And He gave that to us. And you know what happened to
that brother who told me that? The Spirit upheld him in the joy
of his salvation. That's what happened. called me on the phone. After
the Spirit of our Lord did that for him, he called me on the
phone, and then he comforted me. Look at verse 13. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways. You've restored me in your salvation. You've upheld me with your Spirit,
and then I'm going to pass it along to somebody else. I'll
teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted
unto thee. My brother pointed me to the
same Christ that comforted him, and it comforted me. And I pray
the Lord will enable us to keep it going, keep passing it on. David's eighth prayer request,
verse 14. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness. David literally killed Uriah.
He literally killed a man. But we have murdered with the
heart. We have slain with the heart,
not only men and women, we do it. We do it everywhere, every
day, but we've slain the Lord of glory. We have. We are guilty, we have crucified
in the heart. But do you know what our Lord
said? He said, Father, Forgive them. Forgive them in me. There he
hung on that cross. Lord, forgive them in me. Deliver them by not delivering
me. Deliver them in me from all that
blood guiltiness. You know what a person who is
guilty of blood, guilty of murder, you know what that person deserves?
Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for life. They deserve to die. Father,
they deserve to die. Deliver them by killing me."
Did he do it? We just sang, the Father hears
him pray, his dear anointed one He cannot turn away the presence
of His Son. He cannot turn away the request,
the prayer, the intercession of Christ for His people. Cannot do it. He forgave and
He delivered every one of them. Every one of them. David's ninth
prayer request, verse 15, O Lord, open thou my lips, And my mouth
shall show forth thy praise. Lord, I just want to praise you. I just want to praise you. Would
you please let me praise you? You ever feel like you don't
have control over yourself? You ever feel like that? You
don't have control over your thoughts? Do they ever start rolling and
you would love to stop them? Out of the heart, the mouth speaks.
You ever feel like you don't have control over your tongue?
This tongue is a little member that kindles a massive fire. Lord, would you please just let
me praise you? Would you please, please just
allow me to praise you? I would love to. If I'm going
to, you're going to have to open my lips. If I do praise you,
you are going to have to get all the glory for it. Verse 16, He said, For thou desirest
not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. Lord, there's nothing else I
can give you but praise. I don't have anything else that
you will accept. Verse 17, the sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh, God,
thou will not despise. A broken heart, a humble heart.
So, Lord, we bow to you. We give all the glory to you,
even in our praise. We praise you and we give you
the glory for our praise. Now here's the 10th prayer request
that David made. I believe we can all say this
is my heart's desire. Verse 18. Do good in thy good
pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with
the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole
burnt offering, Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. Do good in thy good pleasure,
thy will be done. Thy will be done. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Lord, build
the walls of Jerusalem. Do good unto Zion. What is Zion? We are. The city of God, the beautiful
city of God. Lord, thy kingdom come, thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven. Thy will be done. Have mercy on us. And we can
honestly say this. This is the depth of our heart.
Lord, have mercy on us. Wash us. Please wash us. Purge us. Comfort us. Give us a right spirit. Don't
cast us away. Uphold us. Deliver us from blood
guiltiness. Open our lips for praise. And may all of this be according
to your will. Every single thing we ask Thy
will be done. Thy will be done. Lord, if it's
not your will, then we don't want it to be done. But if it
is your will, whatever it is, thy will be done. I pray God
would put this prayer in our hearts. This is the prayer of
a believer. This is a prayer of a child of
God. If he does put this prayer in our hearts, if he calls us
to cry out to him, to call on him with these requests, then
I want to show you something wonderful. We're going to close
with this. Go over to Isaiah 65. I pray God does put this in our
heart. I pray He causes us to cry it,
mean it, need it. Isaiah 65 verse 24. And it shall come to pass that
before they call, I will answer. And while they are yet speaking,
I will hear. Have mercy on... I already have. Please blot out my... What transgressions? I don't even remember them already. That's just glorious. May the Lord put this in our
heart. Really. Cause us to call. Because if
we do, He put it there. And if He put it there, it's
because He's already given us the answer. Lord, do this for
us. Do this for us. Let's all stand
together.