Morning again. Seems like in my heart, the theme
this morning has to do with forgiveness. And if you take those two little
articles in the bulletin and put them together, somebody sins
against you, you're not innocent. You're not innocent. There's
always There's always some contribution in there. We sin against God. He's the innocent one. You know
how forgiving He is. And once He forgives you, you
try to look in your heart for the virtue or for the ability
to forgive someone, you're not going to find it. You're not
going to find it. Forgiveness is the natural result
of being forgiven. I've had people who say, their
believers say to me, well I'm having a hard time forgiving.
Well maybe that's because you're working on trying to forgive.
Look at how much you've been forgiven and you won't have a
hard time forgiving. Forgiving will be easy if the
Lord enables us to be forgiven. Let's stand together. Tom's going
to come and lead us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. Come, guilty soul, and flee to
Christ, Uplifted on the tree, Who bore the dreadful wrath of
God, That sinners might go free. Behold the Savior's precious
blood and know the love of God. Behold God's justice satisfied
in Jesus' precious blood. Here in His love, God gave His
Son to die the sinner's death. that he might justly save each
one who comes to him in faith. Dear Lamb of God, I come to you,
and all my sin confess. Please be seated. For God's worship, call to worship,
please turn with me to Exodus chapter 16. And I had planned on reading
something for several weeks, but as I was walking, the Lord
took me in a different direction this morning. I thought, given
this week, this might be appropriate. I used to work with a lot of
refugees, and when they'd come to me, they'd say, Michael, what's
this Thanksgiving? Because they didn't celebrate
us. Well, Some of our founding fathers felt appropriate that
we should take a day out and give thanks to God for his blessings
towards us. I fear we lose the meaning of
that, because every day ought to be Thanksgiving for the believer. Verse 1, chapter 16, and Brother
Greg has said it, I see myself. We see Christ, but we also see
ourselves in the Word of God. If we don't see ourselves, we've
missed it. I see myself right here. The
children of Israel, they took their journey from Elam and all
the congregation of the children of Israel came into the wilderness
of sin, which was between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of
the second month after their departure, departing out of the
land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of
the children of Israel murmured, complained against Moses and
Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said
unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord
in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots and we
did eat bread to the full. For you have brought us forth
into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then said the Lord unto Moses,
Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you, and the people
shall go out and gather a certain rate every day that I may prove
them whether they will walk in my law or not, whether they'll
follow me or not. And it shall come to pass that
on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in and
shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And Moses and Aaron
said unto the children of Israel, at even then you shall know that
the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt. And in
the morning, then you shall see the glory of the Lord, for that
he heareth your murmurings against the Lord. And what are we that
ye murmur against us? They not only complained against
the gospel preacher and the priests, but we'll see their true complaint
was against God. And Moses said, this shall be
when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat.
And in the morning, bread to the full. for that the Lord heareth
your murmurings, which you murmur against him. And what are we,
your murmurings, not against us, but against the Lord. And
Moses spake unto Aaron, saying to all the congregation of the
children of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for he hath
heard your murmurings. And it came to pass, as Aaron
spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that
they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the
Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak
unto them, saying, At evening you shall eat flesh. In the morning
you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am
the Lord your God. And it came to pass that at evening
the quails came up and covered the camp. And in the morning
the dew lay around about the host. And when the dew that was
laid was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness, there
lay a small round thing, as small as the hoarfrost on the ground. And when the children saw it,
they said one to another, it is manna, for they wished not
what it was. And Moses said unto them, this
is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat." That's a picture of me. My sins, though like the grains
of sand, I think how every day, either with my lips or my heart,
I murmur and I complain against God's good providence. And I think about, I always,
I think so, the three Ps. I wish I had more possessions.
If I had more possessions, I'd be happy. Or if I had more power
or control over my circumstances, I'd be happy. If I was more popular
and more people liked me and admired me, that would make me
happy. And all this time I'm complaining
against God's good providence, murmuring. And then one day I
thought about it. I said, you know, if the Lord
was pleased to grant all these desires of my flesh to me, I couldn't obtain the one thing
I need that's most necessary for life. All the possessions,
all the power, all the popularity could not save my soul. I need
the Lord to give me the gift that I can't obtain. And the
good news in this story is that even though these people complained,
the Lord had reminded them, you'll know that I'm your God. He didn't
forsake them and leave them. And I'm so thankful. He's grateful. And as a believer, we ought to
be the most thankful people that there is for what the Lord has
done for us, because we couldn't obtain it any other way. Let
us try to go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, our words seem to fail
us. speak what our heart's desire
is to give you glory and thanksgiving. Lord, for you have provided for
us all along and we've not seen it and we have murmured. I know I have complained against
that which you have done, which is right and good. Lord, forgive
me my murmuring against you for my sin is against you, Lord.
And like these Israelites, I deserve to be cast down into the pit,
but your goodness and your mercy to your people never changes.
We're thankful, Lord, that the salvation of our souls is in
your hands, and what you ordain is going to happen, and that
you will give us the ability this morning, your servant, Brother
Greg, and your other gospel preachers, to declare your goodness and
your mercy to your people. And as your people, you would
give us the faith to hear it and to believe it, and to give
all glory and praise to you, and that you might allow us,
enable us to have a heart of thanksgiving to you. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing hymn number 352, 352 from your hardback timbrel. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still Hide me, O my Savior, hide, Till
the storm of life is past. Safe into the haven guide, O
receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, hangs
my helpless soul on Thee. Leave, ah, leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring, Cover my defenseless head With
the shadow of Thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is Thy name. ? I am all unrighteousness ?
False and full of sin I am ? Thou art full of truth and grace ?
Plenteous grace with thee is found ? Grace to cover all my
sins Let the healing streams abound, make and keep me pure
within. Thou of life, the fountain art,
freely let me take of Thee. Spring thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity. Please be seated. Jim and Kay
Racente are going to come and bring special music. Best is the man who now chooses
and calls it to approach or to leave. Psalm 65, verse 4. Christ will redeem his chosen
one. Chosen before all begun. With the living God command you
come. Unto him your bloody run. For it's already ready done. Well, I wish that they could
see. What only God can make that be. Oh, the gospel is proclaimed. All that God requires is provided
in His Son. If only you could see, what only
God can make that be. Upon a throne of helplessness,
a sorry God does not exist. You need for man to come and
see, and so he sits and sadly pleads. He has no power to make
that be. The sorry God who has a plan,
but needs the help of mortal men. Perhaps he might have his
way with them, and hope to choose him as a friend. A brokenness
he can not mend. Well, I wish that they could
see what a weak-hearted man God is. For the gospel is proclaimed
For only God can call your name All that God requires Is provided
in His Son If only you could see For only God can make that
be Christ will redeem His chosen ones Chosen before the world
began If the living God commands you come Until in your bloody
run, for it's already, ready done. For it's already, ready
done. For it's already, ready done. Thank you, Jim. Okay. That fits very well with what
I want to try to say this morning. All that God requires, everything
that God requires, God himself must provide. And God only accepts that which
he provides. And everything that he provides,
he provides in the person of his dear son. In Psalm 51, we
have a cry for mercy. David is asking the Lord to provide
for him that which only the Lord can provide. We saw in the previous
hour David's dilemma, David's sin, the place where David was. And I trust that the Lord enabled
each of us to identify with David as a sinner. And if the Lord is pleased to
answer this prayer, then we will have the hope of knowing what
David knew when Nathan said to him, the Lord has forgiven thee
and your sin has been put away. It's been put away. God puts
something away, gets put away. You can't find it when he puts
it away. He said, I've separated your sin from you as far as the
east is from the west, and I remember them no more. I've sewed them
up in a sack and thrown them behind my back and buried them
in the depths of the sea. And that's where a sinner finds
hope, is to know that my sin no longer stands between me and
God. I have an advocate, Jesus Christ,
the righteous one, who has satisfied himself all the demands of God's
righteousness and all the demands of God's justice. And he, like
for David, has put away my sin. If that's our hope, then Psalm
51 will be our prayer. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of
thy tender mercies, blot out, blot them out, put them away,
separate them from me, cover them so that you cannot see them
anymore, blot out all my transgressions, all my sin, all my iniquity. The plea for mercy is a plea
for pity. Lord, I need your pity. Now we're
offended if men pity us sometimes, maybe we're not, but oh how a
sinner needs God's pity. Lord, I'm a pitiful person and
I need you to be merciful towards me. I need you to show pity towards
me And the basis of my cry for mercy is not my sincerity, it's
not my sorrow, it's not my commitment. Will a sinner who is crying for
mercy be sincere? Yeah, they'll be sincere. Will
they be committed? Yeah, they'll be committed. Will
they sense some sorrow for their sin? Yes, they will. But David
is making it clear here before God, as every sinner does, that's
not the basis of my forgiveness. I'm not coming to you based on
my sincerity. I'm not coming to you based on
my sorrow. I'm not coming to you based on
my commitment. I'm coming to you according to
thy loving kindness. Judge me, Lord, based on nothing
but your grace. Have pity on me for Christ's
sake. Look to him for commitment. Look
to his sorrow. Look to how much he's done for
me. Don't look to me for anything. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ
for his sincerity. Judge me according to thy loving
kindness. We have a hymn in our hymnals,
number 228. And as written over a hundred
years ago, I think, my faith has found a resting place, not
in device or creed. I trust the ever-living one. His wounds for me shall plea. Isaiah chapter 53 makes it clear
that the Lord was wounded for our transgressions. He was smote
in the mouth by those Roman soldiers. Why? Because our mouth is so
full of deceit. He wore that crown of thorns
pressed into his brow. Why? Because the scripture makes
it clear that our heads are sick. He was wounded in his hands because
our hands are so unrighteous. The works of our hands are so
unacceptable to God. He is wounded in his feet because
our feet are swift to shed blood. He was wounded in his side. Why? Because the heart is deceitful
above all things. By his wounds we're healed. By his stripes we're healed.
He's wounded for our transgressions. That's what David's saying. Have
mercy upon me, O God. Pity me. But don't pity me according
to... Was David feeling the burden
of his sin when Nathan came to him and said, Thou art the man?
And when David said, I have sinned, did he Was he sincere? Yes, yes. But he's not coming
to God. He wrote this psalm at the time
when Nathan confronted him. Perhaps that very night he went
into his chambers and penned the words to this psalm. And
he's saying, Lord, Don't judge me according to my sorrow. My
sincerity, my commitment, judge me according to thy loving kindness
for my faith is found in resting place. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died. Now I want to change some words
in that hymn. The first stanza of that hymn,
it is enough that Jesus died and that he died for one like
me. You see, if I have to come to
the conclusion that what the Lord Jesus Christ did on Calvary's
cross was specifically for me in order for me to have any faith
in what he did, that leaves me on shaky ground. It leaves me on shaky ground.
Every child of God knows that what Christ did was sufficient
and effectual for all of God's elect. But every child of God
wonders from time to time, was it for me? Was it for me? It
is enough that Jesus died and that he died for one like me,
a sinner like me. That's enough. That's enough.
I can rest there. I can identify myself with the
whosoever. I can identify myself with a
sinner. I can take comfort in knowing that what the Lord Jesus
Christ did on Calvary's cross was for someone like me. Someone as sinful as me. Doesn't
that give you so much more assurance than to say that it is enough
that Jesus died and that He died for me? As soon as you say that
He died for me, what's the first question that comes up in your
mind? Did He really die for me? Did he die for me? That he died for one like me. I'm a sinner. I can identify
with David and I can say with David, have mercy upon me according
to thy loving kindness. James chapter 5 verse 11 says,
you've heard of the patience of Job and how the Lord was very
pitiful and full of mercy toward him. Now, the Lord's pitiful
towards pitiful men. Can you identify yourself with
David and say, Lord, that's me. I'm pitiful. I need your mercy. And I've got no grounds upon
which to claim it other than your loving kindness. Wash me, wash me throughly from
my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. You see here again, we
have what we had in Exodus chapter 34. We have transgression, we
have iniquity, and we have sin. Transgression is rebellion, bold
face rebellion, disobedience against the law of God. That's
transgression. Disobeying God with our eyes
wide open, and we've all done it. We all do it. We all do it
just like David. Iniquity, those attempts that
we make to try to atone for our own sins, it's the good things.
And Lord, the best thing that I ever did is iniquitous. Sin is what we are. The good,
the bad, and the ugly. That's there, there we are. And
David's saying, wash me throughly. Lord, don't leave one stain of
sin left on me. Now here's the glorious hope,
brethren. As deep as the stain goes with
our sin, his blood, his blood goes deeper, deeper than the
stain. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
cleanses us of all our sins. David saying, blot out my transgressions. In Isaiah chapter 43 verse 25,
I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my
own sake I will not remember your sins. I even I am he that
blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake. for my own sake. In other words, to uphold the
integrity and the faithfulness of my own word and my own work
accomplished in the Lord. Gee, I'm not doing this for your
sake. I'm doing it for my sake. I'm doing it for my sake. Now
that's what we're asking, Lord. Lord, do it for your name's sake. Wash me throughly. In Mark chapter
9, the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. The scripture says that his raiment
became shining, exceeding white as snow, as no fuller on earth
could cleanse it. The brilliance, the brightness
of the pureness and the innocence of the Lord Jesus Christ on that
mount of transfiguration when the veil of his humanity was
taken away for just long enough for the disciples to be blinded
by the radiance. That's what David's saying. David's
saying, wash me throughly, give me that kind of righteousness.
And when John saw the saints in glory, what did he see? They
were robed in that same robe. that same brilliant white robe
of righteousness given by God. Lord, if I'm going to be forgiven
of my sins, you're going to have to do it. You're going to have
to do it for your namesake. You're going to have to wash
me by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're going to have
to cleanse me from all my sin. You're going to have to give
me the righteousness of Christ. Look at verse 3. For I acknowledge
my transgression and my sin is ever before me. What is David saying? I've got
no one to blame for my sin but myself. We've been playing the blame
game ever since Adam pointed to Eve and said it's the woman
that thou gave me. Adam was really blaming God,
wasn't he? God corrected Adam. God put Adam's
sin away, covered him with a robe of righteousness. But we're real
good at it, aren't we? We've perfected that game really
well. We're quick to accuse others of our own faults. There'll be
no mercy. There'll be no forgiveness until
God brings you to the place to where you accept full responsibility
for your sin. Lord, I've got no one to blame
but myself. I did this with my eyes wide open. David goes on
to say, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this
evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified. And as I said in
the previous hour and as you have it in your bulletin, the
severity of a crime is judged in large part by the innocence
of the victim. So that a caretaker abusing a
child would be a much, much worse crime. than a prison guard abusing
a prisoner. We judge a crime based on the
innocence of the victim. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
victim in sin. He's the one that the crime is
committed against. And that's what David is saying.
Against thee and thee only. Now he had sinned against Israel.
He had sinned against Uriah. He had sinned against Joab. He
had sinned against Bathsheba. But he realizes that sin first
and foremost is against God. None of those people were innocent.
None of them were. They were all sinners just like
David. Lord, against thee and thee only
have I sinned. Done this evil in thy sight that
thou mightest be justified when thou speakest. Lord, whatever
you say about me It's true. It's true. I can't defend myself. Lord,
if you choose to save every person on the face of this earth and
send me to hell, you'll be justified in doing it. Let me say that
again. Can you say to God, is this whether
or not you can identify with what David's saying here? If God chooses to save every
single person on the face of the earth and sends you alone
to hell, he would be justified in doing it. You wouldn't have
a word of defense to utter against God for that judgment. Clear when thou judgest. Lord,
what you say is right. What you do is right. What you
do is just. I'm completely dependent upon
you. What's David saying? Lord, I
can't come before your presence and ask for mercy based on anything
other than your loving kindness, other than your will, other than
your electing grace. Behold, verse 5, I was shapen
in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. What's David
saying? Lord, I came from the womb speaking
lies. Lord, I have drank iniquity like
water all my life. Lord, I was conceived a sinner. I was born a sinner. I've never
been anything but a sinner. I don't have anything. I don't
have any claim on God whatsoever. There's not a moment in my life
that I can look back on and say, well, at least I wasn't sending
them. I was shaping iniquity. Lord,
I've got nothing to offer you in and of myself that would force
your hand to save me. Now that's what a mercy beggar,
I've had people say to me, your preacher sure talks about mercy
beggars a lot, I don't want to be a beggar, I don't hate y'all
God. This is a mercy beggar. And in order for us to pray like
this, in order for us to believe this, in order for us to have
this in our, God's got to put that in your heart. Every single
thing that God requires including a cry for mercy, God must provide. And He only accepts that which He
provides. You're not going to come to these
conclusions on your own. But here's the glorious truth.
God uses His Word to bring us to that place. Faith comes by
hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God. Might the Lord
give us the grace right now to have the same heart, desire for
mercy as David had. Might he enable us to identify
with David and then say, Lord, I was shaped in iniquity and
sin to my mother conceived me, been a sinner all my life, been
nothing but a sinner. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts and in the hidden parts, thou shalt make me to
know wisdom." Lord, you're going to have to make me to know wisdom
if I'm going to make it. And what is that hidden part he's
talking about? That's the new man. Lord, you're going to have
to give me a new heart. You're going to have to take
out this heart of stone. You're going to have to put in a heart
of flesh. You're going to have to give me the mind of Christ.
I won't believe any of this if you don't do it. David is asking the Lord for
his mercy. He's asking the Lord to provide
for him everything he needs in salvation. Thou desirest truth
in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. Only God can bring you to the
truth that you're a sinner. Only God can do that. Only God
can bring you to the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
one and only successful Savior of sinners. Only God can give you the faith
to rest your hope of salvation on Him. That's what David's saying.
Lord, if I'm going to have truth in my inward parts, if I'm going
to have wisdom, if I'm going to have any knowledge of salvation,
Lord, you're going to have to give it to me. I know you desire
truth in the emerald parts, and in order for you to have truth
in the emerald parts, you're going to have to put it there. Purge me with hyssop. Now you
know what hyssop was. Hyssop was that plant that Aaron
would dip in the basin of blood and sprinkle it on the people. And it was a picture of that
scourging of the Lord Jesus Christ that's spoken of in Isaiah 53
when the scripture says, by his stripes we are healed. Lord, if I'm going to be purged,
you're going to have to purge me. Have you ever heard someone
say, well, you know, you've got to apply the blood of Christ.
What are you going to do to apply the blood of Christ? That's like
saying you've got to make a decision. What's David saying here? David's
saying, Lord, you're going to have to apply the blood of Christ.
I've heard people say, well, you know, Moses, the children
of Israel applied the blood to the doorpost and the, and the,
and the, and you got to apply the blood and get behind the
blood. You can't apply the blood. Not this blood. This blood's
out of your hands. David's saying what every sinner
says, purge me Lord, with hyssop and I shall be clean. Lord, if
you apply the blood of Christ, then I'll be made clean. Wash
me and I shall be whiter than snow, whiter than any fuller
can make it. Oh, the radiant white robe of
righteousness. Lord, if you wash me, you're
not going to leave any sin left on me. You'll cleanse me throughly. Not one sin can be left on a
sinner if we're going to stand in the presence of God. David's not just praying for
that sin that he had committed against Bathsheba and Uriah.
David's identifying himself as a sinner. He's identifying everything
about himself as being sinful. He's not just talking about the
transgression. He's talking about the iniquity.
He's talking about the nature of sin. make me to hear joy. Now, as is true often in our
English language, the personal pronoun is assumed in these verses. Lord, you make me. You make me. If you don't make me, I won't
hear it. And I'm not interested in some superficial, fleshly,
fabricated happiness that men put on in religion, pretending
to be full of the joy of the Lord. Lord, I need to have true
joy in my heart. I need to have the peace of God
that passes understanding. And if I'm going to have that,
you're going to have to make me. You're going to have to make
me. I can't. I've tried fabricating
that. And I can put on a pretty good
act before men. But when I stand in the presence
of God, Lord, if I'm going to have true joy, you're going to
have to make me. You're going to have to make me to hear joy
and gladness. That the bones which thou hast
broken, Lord, you've broken my bones.
You've brought me down. I've got no place else to turn.
David had spent at least nine months doing everything he could
to cover up his sin, doing everything he could to atone for his sins.
Don't you know that David was miserable? Don't you know that
he, just like us, when you're struggling with guilt and fear
and shame and all those things, you just Lord, you broke my bones. I can't
stand anymore. I'm broken. I'm brought low and
I want to rejoice. But if I'm going to rejoice,
you're going to have to. That's what the two edged sword
is all about. The word of God cuts and it heals. It cuts and it heals. And that's
what David's saying, Lord, you've cut me, you've broken my bones,
and now you're gonna have to heal me. Hide thy face from my
sins and blot out all my inequities. Lord, if you don't hide your
face, how am I gonna hide my sin? I've tried hiding my sin. David tried hiding his sin of
adultery by Sheba by having Uriah killed. couldn't hide from god hit for
men just wonder how many people actually knew what had happened
joanne joanne or you have to blow them out i can't do anything to change
what i am i can do anything to to to put away my son what you
require you're going to have to provide. Lord, again, in every one of
these verses now, in every one of these verses, the subject
is assumed, Lord, Lord, you're going to have to create in me
a clean heart. How's God going to create a clean
heart? How's he going to renew a right spirit within us. He's going to have to give us
the mind of Christ. He's going to have to enable us to put all
our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, you're going to have to
create that. As I said last Sunday, and I know you've heard me say
it before, we talk about people that are creative, creating things,
but none of us have ever created anything. We might move things
around and make something look different, but we always have
raw materials. The literal truest definition
of creating is to make something out of nothing. And Lord, you're going to have
to create a new heart in me. You're going to have to make
something out of nothing. You're going to have to do something
only God can do. I can move things around. I can create a facade
of joy and religiosity. I can pretend, I can convince
men that everything's good when it's not. That's what David was
doing. But Lord, for me to have a new
heart, for you to renew your spirit within me, you're going
to have to make something out of nothing. Verse 11. Cast me not away from thy presence. Is your greatest fear that God would leave you to yourself? I mean, just leave you alone.
Just take his hands off of you. Let you have your own way and
everything you wanted to do. leave you to yourself. That's my greatest fear for me
and for you. For this church, that God would
take his hands off of us. There's no greater judgment that
God can give than to leave us alone. Just let us have our own
way. People talk about the sins of
our society being the judgment of God. No, that's the result
of the judgment of God. Sins of our society is just God
taking His hand off a nation. Letting people do what they want
to do. Cast me not away from thy presence. What is the one thing that you
fear God taking away from you more than anything else? your children, your life, your
possessions. David's greatest fear was that
God would take his Holy Spirit from him. What David's saying
in verse 11 is, Lord take anything away from me but that. For if
you take your spirit away from me, If I have not the Spirit
of God, I'm none of Christ. If I have not the Spirit of God,
I can't hear the gospel. If I have not the Spirit of God,
I can't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If I have not the Spirit
of God, I don't have the life of Christ. I can't do anything
without the Spirit of God. Lord, take not thy Spirit from
me. Don't leave me to myself. I don't want you to take Those
precious things from me that I just mentioned, but the one
thing that I need more than anything else is your spirit. I can't
see Christ. I can't believe on Christ. I
can't have any hope of salvation apart from your Holy Spirit. It is expedient for you that
I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come,
but when he comes, He'll lead you into all truth. Without the
spirit of God, I won't know the truth. I'll be left to my own
devices and my own opinions about things. I desperately need your
spirit. Lord, please don't take your
spirit from me. You can say, well, well, I thought
once you were a believer and had the spirit of God, that's
not possible. Every child of God understands
what David's talking about here. I used to play with that scenario
back before I knew the Lord. Now I understand. Now I understand. Lord, maybe I've been fooling
myself all this time. Lord, if you take your spirit
away from me and leave me to myself, then I'll be exposed
for what I've always been. Lord, verse 512, again, these
are all personal requests that David as a sinner is making to
God. God, if you don't restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation, I won't have it. I won't have
it. Turn me, O God, and I shall be
turned is what the prophet said. Lord, restore unto me the joy
of thy salvation. It's yours to give and it's yours
to take away. Lord, restore unto me the joy
of thy salvation. It doesn't belong to me, it belongs
to you. I'm completely dependent upon
you to be merciful towards me. Uphold me with thy free spirit. Now the world talks about free
spirit as if that's the ability to do whatever you want to do.
You know what David's talking about here? Lord, cause me to
want to do what you want me to do. Then I'll be free. Then I'll be free. Someone has
said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Rest all your hope in
him and live like you want. That's having a free spirit.
That's having his free spirit. What David's saying here is,
Lord, give me your wanter. Make me to want what you want.
Make me willing in the day of thy power. Cause me to believe
on you. Lord, I want to have a free spirit.
I don't want to be under the bondage of the law. I don't want
to be doing things that I don't want to do. I don't want to be
pretender. Give me a free spirit. Give me
a new heart. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. Make me to want what you want. Because if you don't make me
to want what you want, I'm going to want other than you want.
I'm going to go my own way. If you don't give me your wanter,
my wanter is contrary to your wanter. Oh, Lord, give me a free spirit.
I want to be free. Don't you? And where the Spirit
of God is, there is liberty. There is liberty. And if the
Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. We don't want to be religious
pretenders, do we? We don't want to be faking it
until we make it. We want the Spirit of God to
give us a free spirit. Then, then will I teach transgressors
thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Lord, I'm
not going to be any good to anybody until you do something for me. You know, we get the cart before
the horse. We think, well, if I can just
do good things for other folks, then that'll make up for what,
you know, this problem that I... No. Oh, David's saying, I'm of
no value or no good to anybody until you do something for me.
Lord, this is what I need. Deliver me from blood guiltiness.
And he wasn't just talking about the blood guiltiness of what
he shed in Uriah. He was guilty of murder. And
that's what blood guiltiness is a reference to. But he's not
talking just about that. David was guilty of a blood guiltiness
that was worse than his murder of Uriah. And you and I are guilty
of a blood guiltiness that's worse than any thoughts of anger
or murder that we may have ever thought or even the act of murder.
And that's the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember
a crime is judged in large part by the innocence of the victim.
When the Lord Jesus Christ shed his precious blood on Calvary's
cross, he was shedding it because of the sins of his people. Let the world debate who killed
Jesus all they want. God slew him because of my sin. That's my blood guiltiness. I
stand guilty before God for the shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And David is saying, deliver me. Lord, deliver me
from that. Take the very blood that I shed
and apply that blood to my sin. Oh God, thou God of my salvation
and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Lord, I'm
not going to talk about anybody's righteousness but mine, but yours.
Yours. Thy righteousness. David in another
place said, I will speak of thy righteousness even of thine only. I have no righteousness of my
own. We don't go around boasting, you know, I did this or I did
that or I resisted this sin. No, Lord. Lord, whatever, whatever
I've done, Yeah. I'm more interested in God restraining
me than I am from God using me. Let me say that again. People talk
about, well, I want to be used of God. I want people to see
Jesus in me and I want to do great things for God so that
my life can count for something. Lord, just restrain me. Just
keep me. You're the only one that has
any righteousness. I don't have any righteousness to speak of. Open now my lips and my mouth
shall show forth thy praise. Have you noticed how impossible
it is to speak with any comfort, any conviction when you've got
sin that hasn't been dealt with? That's why our sin doesn't go
before God, not if we're believers. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. That sin's been put away.
It's been put away. God sees it no more. But you
know who does see it? We see it, don't we? We see it. And that's why the Lord said
in 1 John 1 verse 9, if you confess your sins, he is faithful and
just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you of all of your
unrighteousness. Oh, sin creates such discomfort, such conflict, a lack of peace and hope. That's
where David is. David's lost all of his hope. He's lost all of his comfort.
God, you've got to do this for me. You've got to restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation. Child of God, we've got a faithful
Savior who's faithful to His Word. I will forgive you of your
sins and cleanse you. I'll show you the cleansing power. For thou desirest not sacrifice,
else I would give it. Again, David's going back to
where he started in this cry for mercy, according to thy loving
kindness, according to thy tender mercies, not because of my sacrifices. I'll bet David went to the temple
every day during those nine months. We know it was at least nine
months, may have been longer, but I bet he went every day.
I bet he shed more blood in those nine months of his life than
he probably shed the rest. You know, he just, he was desperate. And now that Nathan has said
to him, thou art the man, David's hypocrisy has been exposed and
the Lord has said to him, I have put away your sin. Now David
says, Lord, all those sacrifices, all those blood sacrifices never
put away sin. The sacrifices of God? Now notice
what David says, the sacrifices of God, not my sacrifice to God. You see once again, what God
requires God must provide. So he's not saying I'm going
to make a sacrifice of a humble spirit and a broken heart. If
you and I have a humble spirit and a broken heart, God gave
it to us. You find somebody that doesn't believe the gospel, sometimes
we get tempted to get aggravated at folks for not believing, don't
we? The Lord's got to make them believe, just like he had to
make you believe. If we're going to have a broken
spirit and contrite heart, it's going to have to be the sacrifice
of God, not my sacrifice to God. Lord, you're going to have to
break me. You're going to have to cause me to realize that my
heart doesn't work. Something's broken, it doesn't
work anymore. Lord, my heart, my sincerity, My sorrow, my commitment,
my determination. How many times have you said,
I'm not going to do that again? Then you just do it again, don't
you? Lord, you've shown me that my
heart don't work. It's broken. And when your heart is broken,
when it's contrite, when it doesn't work anymore, then you have no
place else to go. but the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You've got no place else to go. You see, otherwise we're
tempted to think, well, if I can just, if I can just have a broken
enough heart, if I can just be sincere enough, if I can just
have enough sorrow, then that'll take away my sin. No, it won't.
That's exactly what David's saying here. That's, that's, that's
the sacrifice that David's saying that God's not pleased with.
Thou delightest not in burnt offerings. Lord, you don't delight in anything
that I bring to you. You delight in what you've done
for me. That's what God delights in.
Everything, everything that God requires of you and me, God himself
must provide. He must. And he only accepts
that which he provides. and everything he provides is
in the person of his dear son. That's all this prayer is. Lord, thou desirest truth in
the under parts, a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Lord, that's
your sacrifice to me. In the last two verses, David's
attention is turned from himself to the church. David realizes
that his sin has affected all of Israel. And your sin affects
more people than you. And my sin affects more people
than me. It affects other folks. It always does. Well, nobody
knows about it. It's a secret, is it? No. Our
sin has rippling effects on everybody around us, doesn't it? David's
saying in these last two verses, Lord, if you'll do this for me,
if you'll do this for me, then you'll do good to Israel. Do good in thy good pleasure
unto Zion, build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Lord, I'm not just
concerned for my own salvation, Although that's first. I'm no
good to anybody until you do something for me. Lord, I'm concerned for your
church, your people, your blessings. Lord, if you'll build the walls
of Jerusalem, build them strong. Put the gates
up. Don't let any error come in.
Don't let any enemies of the gospel come in this place and
keep your people secure. Keep them secure behind the gates
of your grace. Then shall thou be pleased with
the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offerings and whole
burnt offerings. Then shall they offer bullets upon mine altar.
Lord, after you've done everything that you need to do for me, then
whatever I do, and only then, will be pleasing to you. Prayer of a mercy beggar. I hope we can identify with David.
I hope we can see the guilt of our own sin like David saw his.
If we do, it'll be because God sent a prophet to say, Thou art
the man. Thou art the man. But I've put
away your sin. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we're so very thankful for the. With the clarity and the. power
of your word. Oh, how we do hope now that you
would apply your word with faith to our hearts. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. Number 126. Let's stand
together. you Rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These for sin could not atone. Thou must save and Thou alone. In my hand no price I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold thee on thy throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let
me hide myself in thee. Okay.