Good to see everybody. If you
will, let's turn to the book of Psalms, Psalm 25. Let's go to the Lord in prayer
first. Father, as it pleases you, be with us. Lord, if you're not with us,
don't let us go. Send your spirit here to your people. Comfort
your sheep. Close our mouths and open our
ears, Lord. Keep us attentive to your precious
word. What a great salvation we have
and what a great savior. allow us to sacrifice all of
our ideals and thoughts of self about our King. It's in His name
that we ask it. Amen. All right. Psalm 25. Psalm 25. I hope I
can preach today. There's an old
West Virginia genius. Don't call him Mountain Genius.
Put things so plainly. He said, preaching is me getting
a message from God's heart to my heart and then giving it to
your heart. And he's got to do all of it.
It's one beggar telling another beggar where they found bread.
I kind of added to that a little bit. It's a one-way conversation. Catch that part? It's a one-way
conversation from God Almighty through a mouthpiece to the hearts
of His people. I can't do that. I can show up, he has to, I have
to be sent. He has to, I pray he does. Another friend of mine,
I sat in that office this morning looking out the window, watch
everybody pull in praying, Lord, speak to one of them. If you
just speak to one, we ain't spinning our wheels here. If it pleases
you, your will be done. But I ask anyway, Lord, please
one, please yourself and speak to one. Here in Psalm 25, I wanna
look at just one verse. I wanna look at verse 11. This is a palindrome. I learned
a whole lot about school from my pastor growing up. He taught
me how to write papers, three-part essays. That got me through school. So you young people, palindrome
is something that's spelled or is numbered the same way forward
and backwards. Level, L-E-V-E-L. Now spell it
backwards. It's L-E-V-E-L. It's the same
going forwards as the same going backwards. 3-1-3. Same either way, right? Taco
Cat. I learned that the other day.
I saw it on a t-shirt. Really odd. I said it's the same.
I had this in my mind. I saw something on a t-shirt.
It's a palindrome. This verse here we're going to
look at is very true if it's going forwards and we read it
that way or if we're able to read backwards. We read it backwards. That's how we experience it.
You can go there to Ephesians 1. Read that verse by verse going
backwards. You'll see how things come to play. We'll look at it
backwards first. This is the way we experience
it so very often. And then we'll close with the
way it lays. The way the Lord wrote it here. Psalm 25 verse
11. David writes here, For thy namesake,
O Lord, pardon mine iniquity. for it is great." Who's speaking
here? That's something we need to find
out. David's speaking here. King David, that wonderful king.
The man who was after the Lord's own heart. He wrote this, pardon
mine iniquity for it's great. David said that. The sweet psalmist
of Israel. Wait a second, David cried this
out? Yes, he did. Was this after the Lord saved
him? Yeah, it was. That cry for mercy
don't stop. Once you start crying it, you
ain't gonna quit it in this lifetime. Most certainly this was Him.
As we're grown in grace, if we've been given life, and that's a
big if, God has to do it. If we've been given life and
we're grown in grace, the filth, the weight, the horridness, the
atrocities, the terrible sin, whatever bad name you can label
it, whatever adjective you can use, the sin that we are becomes
more apparent every day. And that has to happen. If we
don't grow down, if we're not abased, he's not exalted. Do
you get that? For God's people, the other ones, they grow in
different ways. Well, I ain't talking about them.
I'm talking about God's people. That's who I'm talking about. We grow
down and he's exalted. The child of God grows more weary
of their sin every day. And so David cries this, the
one who began to serve the Lord so young. I thought about that
today. Old Samuel went down The Lord
told him, he said, I will send thee to Jesse, the Bethlehemite,
for I have provided me a king among his sons. How did David
become king? God provided David for him, for
the Lord. He said, I provided me a king
out of Jesse's sons. And Samuel went through each
one of them as he was told. He got one, he said, this has
got to be it. Oh, this fella's strong and wise and just a good
fella. And he probably done fine as
far as the world's concerned, right? came to pass when they were come,
he looked upon Elab and said, Surely this is the Lord's anointed.
Surely this is him. But the Lord said to Samuel,
Look not on his countenance, nor the height of his stature,
because I've refused him. That looks so good. Oh, he says
such eloquent things. He's such a great orator. God
said, That ain't my man. I've refused him. What frightening
words. Oh, it's frightening, isn't it?
For the Lord seeth not as man seeth, There's some things I
thought, well, this is just common sense. I mean, he's playing his
nose on your face. This is what's gonna happen.
And no, it ain't. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Oh. Oh. Well, if I had everybody in the
world fooled that I was just such a good little Christian,
and I was a pastor, and I talked so nice and kind, and I checked
all the blocks and nodded all the Ts, and my heart ain't right.
I don't have a new heart. God looks on the heart. That's bright. That ought to
hit us where we live. That ought to hit me where I
live. The Lord looketh on the heart.
Seven sons went before Samuel. I look forward to when we get
to go through this. I do. I look forward to preaching it.
Samuel said unto Jesse, I hear all you children. Never remaineth
yet the youngest. We got an old run to the litter
out there. He's keeping sheep. You don't want to see him. He's
mine, but you ain't gonna like him. And Samuel said unto Jesse,
Send and fetch him, for I will not sit down till he come hither.
He waited on the man. And he sent, brought him in.
Now he was ready, and with all of a beautiful countenance, and
goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint
him, for this is he. This one, everybody, he's just
out there keeping sheep. He's the youngest, he's the baby.
He's a young fellow. And Samuel took the horn of oil
and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day forward, right then.
He anointed him with that oil, and from then on, the Spirit
of the Lord was upon David. That's the one that's right in
this. Lord, my iniquity, pardon it. It's so great. Is your iniquity
great? We're going to learn what iniquity
is here in a second. Is your iniquity great? Is your sin great?
Enough to need a pardon? It didn't make much sense having
this young lad be anointed as king, was it? How could there
be anyone there to relate with him? Does the Lord send us out
by ourselves? Sheep are herd animals, ain't
they? How many times have I told you that? We need one another. We need
to be fitly framed together, don't we? Who's going to help
David? He's such a young man and knows
the Lord at such a young age. Samuel. Didn't the Lord speak
to him? David said, I'm young, I can't
do this. Come here, buddy. What do you think Samuel told him?
The Lord will provide. Just as he said you are the ones
he's provided for him, he'll provide everything to you. Samuel
was right there to carry him from a young age. David, the
one praying here in Psalm 2511, he's the one that killed the
lion. He's the one that grabbed the bear by the beard. He's the
one that won so many battles. He wrote so many songs to be
sang by God's people. He was so uplifted in spirit.
It was contagious to people. He wasn't charismatic, but he's
a character, that's for sure. He was passionate about the Lord
that loved him and that he loved back. But the same one that numbered
all the children of Israel when he was told to was the same one
that numbered all the children of Israel when he was told not
to. He had a church fundraiser. We'll learn more about that next
hour, but he ought not do that. The Lord dealt with him strongly. He dealt with Israel because
of that. This is the same one that lied to God's high priest
about eating the showbread. about why he was there. This
is the same one that started running around with his best
friend's wife. She was with child. He was gonna get caught. And
he tried to send Uriah. He said, go home, go home. And
he said, I'll sleep right here at your feet. I'm here by the
door. Uriah wouldn't go. And he said, what am I gonna
do with him? I'm gonna send him back to battle. Send him out to be killed. That's
that one too, isn't it? Same man, same man. Didn't that
weigh out, though, all those good things he did? You put it
on the scales, and there was the bad things he did. Well,
the good outweighed the bad. Uh, no. No, absolutely not. Not so. He didn't tip the scales
to indebt God to blessing him. He had an old man and a new man.
Why is he speaking? The Lord convicted David of sin
here, and he says, pardon mine iniquity, for it's great. Nathan
came directly after this happened, and he gave the story of that
rich man and poor man, didn't he? He said, David, I want to
run something by you. There's a rich fella in town,
had a whole lot. There's a poor fella, only had one cow. And
a visitor came, and that rich fella, of course, that's the
one that's going to be the face of the crowd, right? He's going to entreat
this visitor. We're going to show him a good
time. He went and got that cow from the poor man and slew it
and fed, and they had a big dinner out of it. And he didn't take
one of his own. He had plenty. And David said,
who is he? Justice will be served. Who is
he? That ain't right. I'm going to do something about
it. Nathan said, that's you, David. That's you. You're the man. You're the man. You're the woman. How about that?
You're the child. You're the grown. You're the
old person. You're the young person. This individual. So and so don't need
to hear this. You get that? I need to hear
this. I'm that man. If the Lord applies it. Turn
to Psalm 51. Nathan said to David, thou art
the man. And right after, David wrote this. Psalm 51. Right after Nathan told David,
you're the sinner. Not that Adam fell in the garden. That's a
fact. Not that mankind fell in Adam. Devils will tell you that. Not that there's one holy one
of Israel. The demons said that, didn't they? You're the holy
one. Not that there's one God that we fail in the sight of.
He said you're the sinner. This isn't correct doctrine.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Do you know that? This
isn't good theological practices. This is when God does something.
It ain't as pretty as what man likes, is it? Thou art the man. Right after that, David wrote
Psalm 51. Psalm 51.1, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to
thy lovingkindness, 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 my sin is ever before me. While was David crying out for
pardon, his iniquity was great, wasn't it? It was ever before
Him. Does that mean sometimes? Well,
I kind of felt a little bad about that last Tuesday. You know what
you are, if God's revealed what you are to you, don't you? And
we get a little high on our horse sometimes, and we forget we're
going to instructing others, and trying to get everybody else
squared away, and we'll lead the pack. And the Lord will remember
what we are, not what mankind is. Do you get that? That's personal.
Why was it great? First, it was great because of
the multitude of it. His iniquities, his sin. There's
a whole bunch of sin. This has been going on from conception. And he sees that now. He sees
now he was a sinner when he was conceived in the womb. Look at
verse 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. I didn't come out with a
good foundation. Well, I had a good start. No, I didn't. I was conceived in sin. That's
all I am. It's what I am. It's my DNA. There's a multitude
of sins, plural, and they're great in number, but more important
than the quantity of David's sin. It was great. There's a
whole lot of it. I have more than him. My sin, your sin, if
God's pleased to save you, it's more important than the quantity
of it is the quality of it. Why is the quality of my sin
so great? Why is what my sin is so great? Our sin and our
iniquity is so great because of who we sinned against. He says in verse four, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. This is in italics. It ain't
one thing, is it? Well, I feel real sorry about
that one sin. He said, Against thee and thee only have I sinned
and done evil in thy sight. By myself, that's all I can do.
That thou mightest be justified when thou speak and be clear
when thou judgest. You can be holy when you convict
me, Lord, and you're clear. What's that? Here's a good way
of putting that, too. Did the judge have to go back of heaven
and earth? Let me go look through this volume of books I have and
let's see. Now, is he really guilty? No, no, it's clear. You're wrong. I get that, I'm
wrong. My iniquity's great. David's
the one praying, and he's praying because of his great iniquity.
You know what that is? He talks about sin and iniquity
a lot. They separate that off, don't they? They mostly go hand
in hand, they're synonymous. Sin's all those bad things I
do. Iniquity's all the things I think I do good. You got any
of those? How many good things have I done
today? I got up early. I put on a suit that was pressed.
I showed up on time. I'm coming to church on a Sunday.
You're supposed, that's like that guy said, I pay my child
support. I said, you're supposed to pay child support. You want a
cookie? Well, I came to church. There's an almighty God ruling
heaven and earth and the universe. You ought to worship him. People worry about the moral
law. There you go. All the things I thought was good. Job said
it. What is man? that he should be clean. He which
is born of a woman, that he should be righteous. Behold, he putteth
no trust in his saints. I don't consider God's saints
one lick, do I? Whoever they ask of you, whoever
they told you. Ah, we can deal with that some other time. Behold,
he putteth no trust in his saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, which dranketh
iniquity like water. We drank it like water. The things
we think we do good. We drank the fact that I don't
kill babies like water. Oh, that's good. Go, go, go,
go. I'm not hooked on methamphetamines. Look at me. Go, go, go, go. I'm
not like that publican. Go, go, go. Ooh. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Lord, be merciful to me, a Pharisee. What's David asking for? David's
the one asking. He's asking because his sin's great. Both the quantity
of it and who it's against. Now does it make a difference
who it's against? Is it okay to sin against God and tell a
little white lie versus murdering a million babies? What's the
difference? Who'd you sin against? If you know Him, you'll shut
up to sin. It'll shut you up. Back in our
text there. What's David asking for? He's
asking for a pardon. Psalm 25 verse 11. It says, Oh Lord, pardon mine
iniquity for it's great. Why would a sinner ask for pardon?
Why would a sinner ask for mercy? It's needed because I'm guilty
and it's the only option. If you're pigeonholed into a
corner, God paints you in a corner, you'll take sides with God against
yourself and you'll say, I'm guilty, guilty. You're clear,
Lord. It's plain, plain as day. I'm
guilty, I'm the guilty one, I'm that man. Pardon me. Save, Lord, save when you ain't
got no other option. Now until the Lord gets you in
that place, you'll lean on everything else. You'll lean on your working,
you'll lean on your giving, you'll lean on your attendance, you'll
lean on your running, you'll lean on your crying, you'll lean
on your knowledge, your experiences of the past, your dues, until
God makes you guilty. I know I'm saved because. If
it doesn't become a God save sinners, I have some concerns
for you. Your eternal soul. Mankind thinks
God is being judged. We need to accept God or not.
Well, God's out there and he pretty please wants you to be
saved. And when I, it's up to me to accept him or reject him
or to worship him or not worship him, or to attend or not to attend,
or whatever, to be baptized. It's up to me. That's my decision.
Not so. We are the ones on trial. Not
God. We are the ones being weighed
in the balances. We are the ones needful of a pardon and needful
of acceptance. Lord don't need us to accept
him. We need to be accepted of him. Believers cry for a pardon
because it's death not to. and we know something of the
value of our souls. The Lord's gave us a hint. This ain't party
time on Sunday morning. This ain't what we do until lunchtime. This is life and death, eternal
life and death. Pardon. You don't need pardon
until you're in prison. We think we're free, kicking
up our heels and scooting around and committed to absolutely nothing. It's despicable. Who's David?
And us, who the Lord will send. Who are we crying to? Who do
you cry to? Oh Lord, we cry for pardon of our sin and iniquity
to the one who is able to pardon. If I broke both my legs, would
I call one of your children, Amber, to drag me across the
street? No, they can't do it. Let me help you. I appreciate
it. Go away. I need somebody strong who can do this. We cry
to pardon to the one that can save. That's not to a person,
is it? I mean, a man. That's not to
a child of Adam. That's not to a priest. That's
not to a preacher, a bishop. We cry to God. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. He said in Hosea 6,
6, for I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of
God more than burnt offerings. He wants to show mercy. He wants
to pardon. Christ walked this earth and
he preached, and he said, if you knew what this meant, if
you knew what this meant, Micah wrote, who is a God like unto
thee that pardoneth iniquity and passes by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever
because he delighteth in mercy. Man, let me put this in the shoe
leather for you. You know what that is? Mankind
don't get this. This is a precious thing we have in San Diego County
right here in this room today. David cried for pardon because
his guilt, it was great, his iniquity, all the good things
he thought he did was horrible, and all the sin he committed
was horrible, and it was all against God, and he said, pardon.
Think about that. And who's a God like unto thee
that pardoneth iniquity? Make yourself or think of another. the worst criminal we have in
our prison systems right now, the biggest mass murderer, the most convicted rapist, the
baby killer, the glory thief, whatever, the one that's absolute
worst, and they go in front of an audience, they get an audience
with the Supreme Court, and they go in front of the Supreme Court
and they plead their case, and they said, I truly am the worst
sinner in the world. I'm guilty, I'm the worst criminal
that there is. I'm guilty of everything I was charged with,
and there's more that I don't even know about that I was guilty
of. And they tell that Supreme Court justice, left alone, I'm
gonna do it again and again and again if you turn me loose. If
I'm by myself, I'm gonna keep doing it. I can't reform myself. Go read that article. I can't
do gooder. I can't reform myself. There's
no rehabilitation in me. I'm nothing. It is solely your
prerogative to pardon, and I petition you, pardon me. I'm guilty, and
if left to myself, I'll do it again. You, are you crazy? Oh, I've been reformed by the
prison system. That's what they're trying when you come up for parole
hearing, isn't it? Well, I've done good. I started handing
out books at the church and the libraries, and I do, I work down
in the laundry room, and I ain't had to miss a day of work yet,
and I'm doing a whole lot better than I used to. I don't sin like
I used to. Ain't no pardon for them. That's mankind's pardon. That's mankind's thoughts. What
kind of pardon does God give out? One that says, I'm the chief
of sinners. That's cute. Everybody thinks that they're
a sinner. You ain't been inside of my head. Lord, pardon. Pardon. Does that go with the thoughts
of man? Does that fall in line with our logic? to go to the
one that can pardon and say, I'm the worst. Mercy, because
I don't deserve it. Napoleon had that happen. A woman,
her son was going to be put to death. And she went to him. The son was a repeat offender.
She said, Napoleon, pardon my son. Be merciful to him. And
he said, he's done this more than once. Justice demands I
kill him. And she said, I didn't come here
asking for justice, I came here asking for mercy. Mercy. Why would the Lord pardon? Why
would the self-existent one, the Lord of hosts, why would
he pardon? We're working backwards, right?
Look at the beginning of verse 11. Psalm 25, verse 11. For thy
namesake. Oh Lord, pardon mine iniquity
for it's great. For your namesake. What's that
mean? That's twofold as well. For your
glory, Lord, for the sake of your name. He swore by his name
because he could swear by no higher. For your honor, we have
a kinsman redeemer that's fully able to redeem the unredeemable. Those that can't redeem themselves,
to restore those that one near could not. That law couldn't
do it. We have a great kinsman redeemer. The law can't give
life, but the fulfiller of the law can. Oh, and it's all for
his honor. and His glory. He receives it
all, rightfully so, in His namesake, the great physician. The Lord said, They that behold me,
not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn
what that meaneth. I'm afraid of being too rough
sometimes. I tell people stuff too plainly. I ought not, if
it's according to the Word of God. They that behold me not
a physician, but they that are sick, go and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I don't want you
to sacrifice. He's the sacrifice. For I'm not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. This great physician, it's for
his namesake. Now, if we had a doctor, there's
a TV show about one we used to watch a lot. And he was a famous
diagnostician. He could find out what the problem
was. And you only got to go to him if you was bad off. You got
tennis elbow, he ain't got time for you. You ain't on his pay
chart, you know that? That's just any old run-of-the-mill
family practitioner could do that. You can get your nurse
take care of that. This here's a great physician.
He only takes the sickest of the sick, the one nobody else
can do nothing for. Why? Increases his name, doesn't
it? His name's riding on the outcome.
That's this great physician. That's for his name's sake, for
his glory. I kind of see how the Lord would
pardon a sinner for his glory. I can enter into that, son. To
be that judge that pardons only guilty. Because he can. He's able. Oh, man. I understand
that. But how can he pardon and remain
holy? That's a question, isn't it?
That's an important question. How can God be just and justify
a sinner like me? I don't want a crook. I need
a holy God. because of his namesake, if that
was one word. Instead of namesake, the sake
of his name, his namesake, the one named after him. I'm my grandfather's
namesake. I'm named after my grandfather.
Christ has the same name as his father, Lord, Counselor, the
mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father is his
name. The Father called Christ the Son, the Everlasting Father.
There must be something to this oneness, this unity, huh? this
triune God for the glory of Christ and because Christ who shares
the Father's name because of His great sacrifice, because
of what He's done. He's upheld the honor of the
Father. He's upheld the glory of the Father. He's glorified
the Father's name. How? In laying down His life
for the sheep. Turn over to Hebrews 10. I'll
wrap it up. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10, verse 10. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. How are we sanctified? How is
mankind sanctified? If we're going to be set apart from God,
Jesus is going to be made holy. It's going to be through the
body of Christ, through his workmanship, his doing. Verse 11, and every
priest that standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us, For after that he had said before, this is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts. Their hearts,
not somebody else's heart, your heart. I'm the one that broke
your law. And now I see what that law is,
I see who you are. I'll put my law in their hearts
and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. If we see how great
our sin is, who it was against, and we see the greatness of the
blood that it took to blot it out, we begin to see the love
that originated all of this. We begin to see the love that
this covenant, for His namesake, O Lord, did the pardoning. That's
what Paul wrote to us in Ephesians 3. He said, may we be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and the length
and the depth and the height, and to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God. Turn back in our text. We worked
that backwards, didn't we? I said I was going to work it backwards
and work it forwards. That palindrome, same backwards as forwards. We've
been watching this unfold. Now we see how it really does
happen. Psalm 25 verse 11. For thy name's
sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity for it's great. That covenant
of grace before time. His glory, his honor, he determined
to be everlasting before time. The lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. Before sin ever entered this
cursed land we live on now. The Lord determined for his name's
sake, to pardon because of Christ. And now, now I start to see it's
my sin. And now I start to see it's great.
So I beg for pardon. For his will, for his names.
You see how it keeps going back and forth? Does that happen one
time? God of yours, he is. He does it. David, how old was
David when he wrote this? He's up in years, wasn't he?
Walked with the Lord a long time and he said, Lord, your name
is wonderful. Pardon me, my iniquities are
great. Come begging to the Lord. The
gospel is good news. That's what gospel means, good
news. Who's that good news to? Sinners. If I could find one
person whose iniquity was great, whose sin was great. You know
who the Lord is? That's who you sin against. Call
to him for pardon. He delights to show mercy. And
he's just in doing so because of the blood of Christ. Knock
yourself out. Come to Him. Cry to Him. Nehemiah
was praying. And he said, Thou art a God ready
to pardon. You're ready to pardon. Have
you come to Him? If you ain't, why not? The door's
open today. Might not be tomorrow. Might
be closed tomorrow. You can drown in your sins. Thou
art a God ready to pardon. gracious and merciful, slow to
anger and of great kindness and forsookest them not. He said,
I'll never leave you or forsake you. Oftentimes, I cry out, I
ain't cried out enough. I have no problem taking my burden
to the Lord. But boy, if I could leave it
there, wouldn't that be wonderful? Let's pray together. Father,
thank you for your word. Lord, show us what great sin
we are. and show us our great savior.
Allow us to see all flesh as grass and to behold our God. Make us cry for mercy, make us
cry for pardon, for our sin. Pardon for our iniquity, all
the things we thought we did good. We're worms, Lord. We're dogs, but we're your dogs.
Feed us as you see fit. Comfort the hearts of those that
mourn. Keep us as you promised you will,
or allow us to trust your word as we see it come to pass so
often. Keep us till we're made like your son, this body of death
shed away. Forgive us our sin, Lord. It's
in Christ's name that we ask it. Amen.