Psalm 25, 11. For thy name's
sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. O Lord, pardon
my sin, for it is great. I think all of us should be interested
in this because if you don't need it today, you'll need forgiveness
tomorrow. And if you don't feel like you
need it today, it's because you've already been forgiven or you
don't know yourself. You don't know your sin. Here's
a great king, one of the greatest kings that had ever been anointed
over Israel, and he felt his need and he confessed his sin
and said, Oh, Lord, I sinned. Pardon my iniquity. Now, I want to see four things.
They're all here in this text. First of all, I want to see this.
That sin is a great evil. Pardon my iniquity, for it is
great. All sin, all iniquity is evil. That's the first thing we want
to see. Secondly, there's pardon for iniquity. Pardon my iniquity. And third, I want to see on what
grounds He pleads for pardon, for Thy name's sake. And then
fourthly, I want us to see this. If we know these things, if we
know of iniquity, if we know there is pardon, then we will
seek it. We will seek it. Oh Lord, pardon my sin. First of all, let me give you
four or five reasons how you and I know simply that iniquity
is great. Pardon my iniquity, for it is
great. One of the ways that we know
that sin is great when we look around us. If you know anything
about history, the history of our country, look how sin has
devastated our society. I wonder how many barrels of
blood has been spilt in our country alone, no older than it is. Even from the Civil War to World
War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, all the
Gulf Wars, the war in Afghanistan. I wonder just what this country
is involved in, the wars here and abroad. How many barrels
of blood that this earth has had to soak up because of wars. And where did James say war comes
from? The lust that wars in your memory. And we've had all kinds of committees
that's tried to stop it. We've had the League of Nations,
the United Nations, NATO. We've had the promise this will
never happen again, but it continues to happen. And it's because of
sin. Just look at our nation. Look
at other nations that's involved in war and why it's sin. And brothers and sisters, it's
been that way ever since man fell, and it'll never cease as
long as this world spans. Wars and rumors of war. Another way, when we come closer
to home, look in our own houses. Look in our own communities.
I don't know about you. I don't even sit around in my
house anymore in the daytime with my doors unlocked. If I
get to thinking I've left my door open when I go to bed, I'll
get up and go check on it. We're not safe in the parks,
are we? Our children aren't safe at schools. Now they're thinking about putting
armed guards in all the schools, even the little county schools.
What has happened to our society? Why can't we trust one another
anymore? Sin. Sin. And we know it's a great evil
because of what it's done to our society. Sin is a powerful
evil and it's a spreading evil. And where it's allowed to reign,
it will destroy the soul, it will destroy the body, it will
destroy a house, it will destroy a nation where it's allowed to
reign and go unchecked. And not only that, it will destroy
the morals of society. And look at our great institutions.
We have some of the greatest institutions known in the history
of man. Look at Congress. Look at our
presidencies. People have no confidence in
them anymore. Our Supreme Court, the court
system, our school system, these great institutions. What has
happened to them? Sin has infected it. And where
sin infects it, it brings corruption and chaos. Sin is a terrible
evil. And not only morally, but spiritually. I remember I heard some man talking. He was from England, and he was
talking about how quickly England went down. He said, it's difficult
now to buy a King James Bible in England. It's hard to buy any kind of,
he said, a good version in England. And he was telling about just
a few years ago, when Spurgeon was around, and they had the
downgrade controversy. And he talked about how bad things
were getting. He said that country that had
raised up these spiritual giants, John Newton and J.C. Ryle and
John Bunyan and those great men, now you can hardly find a preacher
of the gospel there anywhere. And why is that? Sin. Sin will destroy the morals of
a nation or a house. It will destroy the spirituality
of a nation. Sin is an evil thing. But I think even when we come
closer home than that, when we look inside of ourselves, we see that sin is a great evil. What's your worst battle? Is
it not sin within you? I mean, all the trouble that
you have, it's either because of your sin or somebody else's
sin. It keeps you from doing anything
perfectly that God commands you to do. You can't worship Him
in spirit and in truth as you long to do, but sin is corrupting
everything. And it makes you say, oh wretched
man that I am, when I would do good, evil is present with me. And it breaks your heart. What's
caused your conscience to scream? What's embarrassed you worse
than anything else? What has brought shame on your
Savior's dear name? Is it not your sin? I was reading Philpott in his daily
devotional just the other day, and he was talking about afflictions.
And he was talking about how good afflictions were for us,
because he said, it seems like when we have any rest, when we
have any ease at all, All of these idols rise up in our minds. He said if you watch yourself,
the thoughts of your heart, he said there's as many idols in
a man's soul as there is stars in the sky. It may not be a big idol, but
if it's an idol, it's an idolism. If it's anything that takes our
heart and our meditations and our thoughts away from the true
and living God, it's an idol. And they're always popping up.
Sin isn't an evil, evil thing. Pardon my iniquity, O Lord, for
it is great. I just wonder here in verse 16
through 18 in this psalm. David here talked about his afflictions. Look here in verse 16. Turn thee
unto me, and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate I'm lonely
and I'm afflicted. The troubles of my heart are
enlarged. Oh, bring me out of my distress. What's this about? Well, look
in verse 18. Look upon my affliction and my
pain and forgive all my sins. It seemed like this distress,
this affliction was a soul affliction, a conscience affliction due to
his felt And I tell you, when we begin
to see sins working in us, it's a proof in and of itself. Iniquity
is a great evil. It's not evil. And fourthly, consider hell itself. At one place we want to prove
what an evil iniquity is. Consider hell. Why would God
make a hell? Somebody said God didn't create
hell. Well, who did? Who did? And why did He do it? But to punish devils and fallen
humanity that die in their sins. I had a friend of mine, I think
I told you about him, he told me one day, he said, I don't
believe in hell anymore. I don't believe in eternal punishment
anymore. Well, I wish somebody could open
my Bible and show me where I've been deceived on this subject. And they say, Bruce, I know that
you believe in hell, but let me show you where you're wrong
and convince me from the Scripture. I tell you, I believe in the
minute. I get no joy or thrill out of talking about eternal
punishment. But you either have to say hell
is a myth, Or you have to say sin is awful bad. And I'd say if hell is real,
sin must be a great evil. Because that's the only reason
I know God put anybody in hell, to punish their sins, that iniquity. And when you read about a bottomless
pit, when you read about outer darkness, when you read about
a worm that never dies, when you read that the Lord said
to those on the dead, judgment depart from me, into everlasting
fire, evil must be a great and terrible thing to be punished. To punish it a thousand years
or a million years, but to punish it everlastingly, oh, my iniquity
is great. And fifthly, consider this before
we go on to the next point, I think we can see the evil of sin more
than anywhere else when we look at the cross of Calvary. There's
where we see evil. I was talking with Remy one day,
and he was telling me what happened to him. And he said that he was
in the house by himself one Sunday afternoon. He said, I was thinking
of the cross. I was thinking of the Lord Jesus
on the cross. And he said, suddenly, I became
an awful sinner. I became an awful sinner. Sin. Where do we see it? Oh, in the
cross. In the cross. Hear the Son of
God groaning. See all the darkness. See the
beard plucked from His face. See the tears flowing from His
eyes like a river. See His lips quivering. See the
darkness that can be felt. God forsaken Him. God forsaken
Him. Why? Why did God deliver him
up and refuse to deliver him? Sin. S-I-N. It must be bad. I think if God
was ever going to spur sin, it would have been the earth across.
I think when His Son said, My Father, why have You forsaken
Me? I think if God was ever going
to spur an iniquity, right there He would have said, Son, I'm
sorry. I'm going to step down off of this throne of justice.
I'm going to compromise with sin. I'm going to save you. I
cannot endear seeing you suffering for sin." But he didn't say that,
did he? He died in sorrow. And he died
with a broken heart because of sin. What an evil sin must be. Oh, my second point then, isn't
this a great and wonderful thought? Pardon my iniquity, for it is
great. Sins are pardoned. Great iniquities
can be pardoned, can be forgiven. Great sins draw out great grace
from the bosom of the Son of God. Listen to what David said
in Psalms 32. I acknowledge my sin unto thee."
What else can we do? We can't deny on camera. But
that's as far as we can go, is to acknowledge them, confess
them, and my iniquities have I not hid. I said I will confess
my transgressions unto the Lord, and listen, thou forgivest the
iniquity of my sins. Forgiveness. Listen to Psalms
85, 2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sins. Thou hast covered. I used to
have some problems with that word covered. Blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. I just
kept thinking, I don't want my sins covered. But it depends
on what covers them, doesn't it? And I begin to see a tremendous
blessing in not only the concept of having your sins forgiven,
but having them covered. Do you see your sins? You do,
don't you? You know they're there. Even
though they're forgiven, you know they're there. But here's
the blessing. You see them, but God doesn't,
because they're covered. They may not be covered from
your eyes, but they're covered from His eyes. And what covers
them? The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only cleanses them, but it
covers them. It covers them. Oh, and while
we groan over our sins and while we're burdened and our conscience
screams, God can't see them. While we confess them, they're
covered. Awful sins. Awful sins. Great iniquities. Pardon my iniquity,
for it is great." David committed murder and adultery and lied
about it, and yet it was forgiven. Can you imagine that? Would you
like to sit here this afternoon, sitting here with the guilt of
a man's blood on your conscience? Could such a thing be forgiven?
Yes. Bruce, that's a great sin, yes.
But it can be forgiven. Noah's drunkenness? Forgiven. Lot's incest? All gone. Manasseh burning his children
in the fire? Worshipping strange gods? All
pardoned. Peter's denial of the Lord and
cursing? All forgiven. Saul of Tarsus
and his blasphemy, his hatred of Christ. I sought to do many
things contrary to the name of the Son of God, and he did it.
And that was all pardon. Great sins can be pardoned. You have had five husbands, and
the one you are living with now is not yours. But I forgive all. Isn't that
amazing? those Corinthians that Paul wrote
to, he said, man, you fellows were drunks, you were fornicators,
you were adulterers, you were thieves, you were idolaters,
effeminate, abusers of yourself with mankind, but you're washed. You're justified. This is why
the Gospel of Jesus Christ is such great good news. It's not for the perfect. It's
not for the holy. It's not for the good. It's not
for the secure. It's for guilty people. It's for sinners in need of pardon. Oh Lord, pardon my iniquity. I've heard, somebody told me
that there was a church somewhere, he said there were churches like
this, he knew, but they catered to good people. And that's the
kind of people they wanted there. And they had a way of discouraging
the rip-rap from coming in. Man alive, I wouldn't be comfortable
there, would you? I wouldn't be comfortable there.
No, the gospel is for sinners. The Son of God came down from
heaven and said, My Father has sent me with this message, that
all manner of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven. The sons of
men. I have Jim's favorite birth bar. He hung on to that in his dying
bed, didn't he? All manner of sin and blasphemy.
And I tell you, he proved it in his lifetime, didn't he? Woman, your sins are many. And
they're forgiving you. Said to that man sick of the
palsy, take up your bed and walk. Your sins are forgiven. Did you
hear what Jesus said to me? We just sung it, didn't we? are
all pardoned, and now you're free. All of them, Lord, every
one of them, in whom we have redemption through His name,
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Oh, that's why the gospel
is good news, ain't it? If I had to come here this evening
and tell you if you weren't a good person, we didn't really want
you here. You wouldn't even want to be
here, would you? Oh, this is for sinners, poor sinners who
are in need of mercy and pardon. Heaven will be full of people
that were sinners in this lifetime and they were pardoned. I want
to be among them, don't you? That's why we'll feel right at
home there. Thirdly, let's look right quickly
at this. What grounds is great iniquity
pardoned? Lord, pardon my sin, my iniquity,
for it is great. And He tells us here in verse
11, for thy name's sake. And you can just go ahead and
read in there, for Christ's sake. That's what Ephesians 4.32 says.
Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Listen to Acts 13.38. This
is Paul's great message in Antioch. He said, Be it known unto you,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. Through him. Through his blood. Through his name. This is what
Peter preached to Cornelius in Acts 10. To him gave all the
prophets witness that through his name Whosoever believeth
in Him shall receive remission of their sins." His name. The Father named Him well, didn't
He? His name shall be called Jesus. Why? Why would you give
a man a name like that? That means Savior. He shall save
His people from their sins. And He does so by paying their
penalty. I tell you, if you're in great
debt, and you couldn't pay, and you had some rich friend that
went down to the finance company and said, I'm here to pay off
his debt. They don't care who pays it. If it's paid, I tell
you, they'd receive it with Thanksgiving. They'd be happy to have your
debt paid. And you'd be happy too, wouldn't
you? You're ready to declare bankruptcy. And here you get
the notice. Some rich friend has paid everything
you owed on your behalf. Is he allowed to do that? Well,
sure. We don't care who pays it long
as we get the money. Well, here's the Son of God,
and He hands on Calvary's tree in His blood. And He takes in
His hands, as it were, that precious blood. And He goes up to heaven
through the eternal Spirit. And He says, Father, here's the
payment for their sins. Here's what they owe you. Here's
what justice demands. And the Father happily receives
it at His hands. And He sends you a notice and
says, your debt is paid. And now you're part of it. All
for the sake of my dear Son, if I come here and told you this
afternoon that God was going to forgive you of all your sins,
irrespectable of judgment and of justice, that He's such a
good God that He's just going to forgive you, or He's such
a God of mercy and grace, He's just going to forgive you, you
know what you'd say? What about justice? I owe this. You mean God's not going to demand
that justice be satisfied? If you have a rich man that you
owe a lot of money to, you go to him and ask him if he'll just
forgive you out of the goodness of his heart. You're such a good
man. And I'm just depending on you
to forgive this debt because you're a fine fellow. And He
may tell you, I know I'm a fine fella, and I know I'm a good
man, but I'll be a bankrupt man if I forgive everybody their
debts. You're going to have to pay what you owe, or somebody's
going to have to pay it for you. Isn't that the way it is with
God? Justice demands payment for sin. We can't pay it. We're bankrupt already. Oh, but
Jesus Christ is so full of merit, and He's so rich. He laid down His life and offered His blood to the
Father. And He paid that tremendous debt. And isn't it wonderful now, brothers
and sisters, that God has happily received it? And now your debt is canceled. You don't owe a thing. And it
didn't bankrupt Him. He's got marriage to spare. He's
not like those old Catholic saints. You can build it up. He don't
need to build it up. He's got plenty. And He can give
His merit to you. Bless His name. Through His name
is preached unto you, the 50. Lord, for Thy name's sake, forgive,
pardon all my iniquities. Fourthly and lastly is this,
in light of this, what should our reaction be? Is there forgiveness
of sins? Is there redemption from it?
Is great sin and blasphemy being forgiven? What should we do then? Let David be our example. Oh
Lord, pardon my iniquity. Lord, pardon it. Pray to him.
Go to Him. Seek Him. Nobody else can forgive us but
the one we've sinned against. You say, well, Bruce, I don't
want anybody to know that I'm seeking Him. I'm somewhat ashamed.
Well, maybe we aren't desperate enough then. Can you imagine this king writing
this letter? And everybody's reading it. Everybody is reading this letter.
All over this whole kingdom. And heathens have got copies
of it. And they are reading it. And they say, Boy, that King.
This is the King. And you know what He is doing
in His secret chambers? He is praying, Oh Lord, forgive
me of my iniquity. You are ashamed to seek the Lord
for pardon. You are ashamed of what some
man might say. What your classmates may say
about you. Oh, if they know I've asked Him
the Lord for forgiveness. Who is your classmates anyway?
Who is man anyway? His breath is in his nostrils.
What's he? He's nothing. He's going to die
and cease to be in his poor body. He won't give account to man.
It's God that we'll give account to. And we can't stand before
Him in our sins. We're not willing or able to
die in our iniquities. The only hope that we have that
there is forgiveness with the Lord, that He may be feared,
is it so cheap that it's not worth seeking him for forgiveness? It means no more to us than we'll
go on, ashamed, to pray and call on His name. Oh, David was the greatest king
ever lived. And there he was, O Lord, O Lord,
forgive my iniquity. The old prophet Hosea said, take
with you words and turn to the Lord. And say this unto him,
Lord, take away all iniquity and receive me graciously. What
a plea! What a plea for any sinner! What
a plea for the children of God! When our conscience is heavy,
and when we can't sleep upon our bed because of some sin that
we've committed, and it weighs our poor spirit down, and it
breaks our hearts, go to Him and say, Lord, take away my iniquity,
and here's my plea for Your sake, for Your name's sake. Do it.
Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for
me, and that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come,
I come. Just as I am and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark blot, to Thee whose blood can cleanse
each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. just as I am, poor, wretched,
blind, sought riches, healing of my mind, yeah, all I need,
and Thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come." There is forgiveness. Oh, what a message! What a gospel!
What a Savior! There's forgiveness within. Let's
pray.