Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Psalms, chapter 36. Psalms 36. I've entitled this
message, Beholding Guilt and Mercy. The Spirit of God moved upon
David to pin that which every believer truly knows and experiences
and admits. He knows that he in himself, in his old
man, he's guilty. He sees that. But he also beholds
the wonder of God's mercy. And he's thankful for it. Now David began penning this
revealed scripture in verse 1. And here's what he said, the
transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there is
no fear of God before his eyes. Now, truly every man born of
God, he knows something of the thoughts, the actions, and the
iniquity of man because he's a man. He's regenerate. God's given him a new heart,
but he knows something of what is inside. David penned the same
thing that Paul, the apostle, confessed of himself. This is
what Paul said. Paul said the same thing David
said. Paul said in Romans 7.18, I know that in me, that is in
my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." Now David here is not speaking
of others. He's not speaking of them, even
though he's describing what's in them, but he's talking to
himself. And he sees within He beholds
something within himself and he declares that the revolt and
the rebellion and the sin of the wicked is saying the same
thing in his own heart. That's what he's saying. Here's
what he's saying, now listen to what he's saying. The transgression
of the wicked, that's everybody, born in Adam, that's everybody,
saith within my heart There's no fear of God before his eyes. A believer says that? Absolutely.
He's talking about that body of death that's still there.
He knows it. My old man is ever rising in
opposition to the God of my hope. My old man is always rebelling
and that's the foundation. of that battle that we talk about. The spirit lusteth against the
flesh and the flesh against it. That's a constant battle. So
here is where every man regenerated by the grace of God confesses,
if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities. Lord, who shall stand? Lord, if you charged me with
what I see in me. And I know it so. And it's going
to be like that as long as we're alive on this earth. I'm telling
you we're going to struggle for the rest of our lives because
we're going to see the transgression of the wicked still haunting
us, warring against us. Saying in my heart, that old
man, if not For the unchangingness, the immutability of God to show
mercy to the chosen objects of his affection, we would surely
be consumed. The Lord said, I don't change. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
ever answers for the sheep and for that. The Lord said, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And not for
that, we'd have no hope. Listen, David, he's gonna continue.
He's gonna talk about himself for the first four verses. Listen
to what he's saying about himself. Somebody said, you know, I'm
telling you, it's so easy for us to talk about those evil people.
I wish those evil people could be more like us. You know, the
elect. No, this is how the Spirit of
God told David, you write this. Look at verses two and three,
verse two first. For he flattereth himself in
his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful. David,
now here, he's, again, he's still talking about his own wretchedness
of that body of sin that dwells in man, but nature speaks well
of himself. And he desires the flattery of
others, praise of men, but a believer, though he sees that old man there,
and he knows that that flattery. Somebody says, well, I don't
really flatter myself in my faithfulness. Well, the Spirit of God says
we do. I'm telling you, a believer's honest about it. He declares
what he knows is so. All of us, by nature, kind of
have an exalted estimation of us. We've learned some things,
we've become a little bit more stable, and we're, you know,
I'm pretty grounded. That nature, right there, is
the nature of the carnal heart. And it's just expressed by a
believer because he knows Listen to this scripture we've read
so many times. Two men went up to the temple
to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a publican, and the Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are. Is that not speaking with flattery?
That word flattery means smoothly, to speak smoothly of myself. The old man, overestimates himself
and he confides in his own supposed wisdom and power until his conduct,
according to this scripture, until his iniquity be found to
be hateful, his conduct and his attitude about himself is disgusting. Religion, man Man's religion,
this world's religion, it is disgusting. Because man by nature
is so self-righteous. Just put down others, talk about
others, exalting ourselves. That's what David said. I see
that. I see that. Listen to what Paul
said about himself. before the Lord was pleased to
call him out of darkness. Here's what Paul said in Philippians
3, 5, and 6. Circumcised the eighth day of
a stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, touching the law
of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching
the righteousness, which is in the law, blameless. Now let me
ask you something. You think there was any pride
found in Saul of Tarsus because of the place where he stood. My mom and daddy were Hebrews
and I was from the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Pharisee. And concerning
my zealousness, I persecuted that church, those people that
were of that way. you know, coming and saying that
the Lord Jesus Christ, he claimed to be God, and he said, I'm telling
you, I was a good man. He spoke so smoothly of himself. Look at three and four. The words
of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He hath left off to be
wise and to do good. He deviseth mischief from his
bed, setteth himself in a way that is not good, he abhorreth
not evil. Now here's the admittance of
that which the Lord revealed back in Genesis chapter 6 and
verse 5. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Everything
he thinks, everything he purposes, everything he desires, it's just
wicked, it's just evil, all of it. And man by nature will smoothly
flatter himself and think, put across that attitude to others
until it's just, it's sickening. It's sickening. You just, you
listen to man by nature, religious man talk about how holy he is. And it just repulses. But at
this point, David having, by the Spirit of God, been made
to be honest and write it down. That's what the Lord told him,
you write this down. This is the way man is by nature.
And this man right here, and all like him, has been made to
see himself for what he is. He now knows what he needs. All that trust that Paul trusted
in, before he was converted. He said, it was refuge. It was
loss. And now he realizes what he needs. And this is what every man, every
woman made to see, made regenerated by the grace of God. This is
what they need. I need God to be merciful to me. Because I
am in myself. I am guilty. Listen to what he
says in verse 5. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the
heavens, and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Who only can truly know and appreciate
something of the mercy and the faithfulness of God except one
that's been made to see His need of it? Until the Lord's pleased
to call a sinner out of darkness. They talk about mercy, but they
don't know anything. And even after conversion, there's
not a one in this room this morning that knows the fullness of the
mercy. We need mercy because of our
lack of understanding of what we need. We need for God to do
something for us. Mercy. Unmerited. Undeserved. Mercy that the Lord
said was the display of His glory. Moses asked God, show me Your
glory. He said, I will be gracious.
To whom I'll be gracious, I'll show mercy. To whom I'll show
mercy. So I've said before, mercy is
the admittance of guilt. That's what it is. Here's the
glorious revelation of God's delight. Micah 7.18, who is a
God likened to Thee? that pardoneth iniquity and passeth
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth
not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. You think about this. Those that
offend us. We're very defensive of ourselves. And if somebody is repeatedly,
repeatedly, offensive to me. I'll just go ahead and be honest
with you and tell you, and you can think the same thing, because
I know you are. But if there's somebody, and they're just, I
mean, when you, uh, when I was growing up in school, I remembered
I was in the 11th grade. Never forget this. I don't know
why this one guy, I hadn't thought of this in years, there was one
guy that I can think of when I was in the 11th grade that
took it upon himself to just be mean to me. I don't think I ever did anything
to him, but he just took it upon himself to be a bully to me. And I'm telling you, in my heart,
I just despised him. Oh, he just aggravated the very
thought of when I was going to have a class with him. Just drove
me up the wall. And one day, he got sick and
died. And I was so glad, I remember
thinking, I am so glad, Jeff, I don't have to fool with him
anymore. But now here is me and my arrogance
before God. And the way I am by nature, And
the Lord would delight. I did not delight in mercy. I
did not delight in mercy. I was glad when he wasn't around. But not God. Who is a God like
unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? Pardon it. And passeth by the
transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth
not his anger forever because he delighteth. He delights in
mercy. He delights in it. I thought,
who is a God like thee? His mercy is in the heaven. That's what David said. Thy mercy,
O Lord, is in the heaven. It's lofty. It's above explanation. It's found within God Himself
and found only in Him. And it's beyond my ability to
conceive it. I just, I can't imagine. I don't
know the depth of my rebellion. How can I know the depth of his
mercy? Hold your place there and turn
to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians two. This is such a vivid, we've read
this often, but what a vivid explanation of our need of mercy
and God's supply of mercy. Ephesians two verses one to seven. And you hath he quickened, he
made you alive. who were dead in trespasses and
sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation, our walk in times
past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others wrathful toward God. mean toward God, arrogant
toward God. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins. You think about that. I tell
you often, I kind of use myself as an example, I guess, because
I'm about the best example I know of depravity. And I think, oh,
if you only knew, if you only knew. My wife knows a little
bit, but there's some things I ain't even told her because
of my embarrassment. My growing up, and my ways, my
attitudes. But God, rich in mercy, even
when we were dead in sins, and quickened us together with Christ. By grace, you're saved. And it raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. David said back in Psalm 36 verse
five, thy mercy. O Lord, is in the heavens, and
thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy faithfulness,
Lord, you alone can be trusted. You're the only one. Solomon penned in Proverbs 3,
5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, be confident.
Lord, you're faithful. Faithful to your word, faithful
to your promise, faithful to your covenant. Thy faithfulness
reacheth unto the clouds. Verse 6 says, thy righteousness
is like the great mountains. Thy judgments are great deep.
O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. Thy righteousness is like
the great mountain. The mountains of God is what
the margin talks about. Your righteousness, wait a minute,
your rightness. Lord, you are right. God, I've heard men say, this
is right. God doesn't do that which is
right. What God does is right. He is His own standard. Whatever
the Lord does, is right, and your rightness and your virtue
can only be compared to you, Lord, who is as the great mountain,
stable, strong, founded. When God gave Moses his law in
the mountain, Mount Sinai, there was a majestic display of God's
presence, God's choice. will to reveal Himself to His
people. Turn over to Exodus 19. Exodus 19, verses 10 to 13. Let's talk about the righteousness and the majesty
of God. Exodus 19, verse 10 to 13. And the Lord said unto Moses,
go into the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow. and
let them wash their clothes and be ready against the third day.
For the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all
the people upon Mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto
the people round about saying, take heed to yourselves that
you go not up into the mount or touch the border of it. Whosoever
touches the mount shall surely be put to death. There shall
not a hand touch it. He shall surely be stoned or
shot through, whether it be beast or man. It shall not live. When
the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to them." Now,
don't you touch it because God's right and you're not. Don't think
that you can approach God. God Almighty is only approached
in God's priest. He's approached in rightness
and holiness. And his righteousness and rightness
were set forth when he said, I'll read this to you in Exodus
20 verse 2 and 3, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. Why? Because you're right. The latter part of verse 6, thy judgments
are deep. What do you mean God's judgments? His acts. His verdicts. His acts and His verdicts, that
He does, what He judges according to His will and purpose. They
are an abyss to our perception and understanding. They're deep.
They can't be measured. The Lord chooses to show mercy
to one and He's pleased to pass by another one. Who can measure
that? Raises up one nation, puts down
another. Who knows the depth of that abyss?
And His judgment to do what He does is, according to this scripture,
that's a great deep, just as we can't fathom the ocean. They
said that there's places in the ocean that you can't even measure. How can we penetrate the judgments
of God? God does what He, well I don't
see why the Lord, well because we don't know. What the Lord is doing is what
the Lord is doing. They're beyond our comprehension
and with all our efforts to understand, we confess that we don't know
what He's doing. And listen to what Job 33.3 says,
and He giveth not account of any of His matters. God doesn't
owe us anything. God does what He does. David
said, Thy righteousness is like the great mountains. Thy judgments
are a great deepness. He said, O Lord, Thou preservest
man and beast. Now we know that everything that
the Lord does, all the movements that He moves and creates is
according to His will, and His purpose, and His power, and the
providential care of His creation. and in keeping with what David
just said concerning the depth of his judgments. And that last
part right there, when I first read that, O Lord, thou preservest
man, but the part that got me was the and beast. I read that, and then I found
this scripture in Nehemiah 9, 6, and it gave some understandings
clarity to me, and I hope it does to all of you here, Nehemiah
9, 6, concerning the Lord's preservation of man and beast. Listen to this. Thou, even thou, art the Lord
alone. Thou, even thou, art Lord by
yourself. Thou hast made heaven, the heaven
of heavens, with all their hosts, the earth, all things that are
therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest
them all, and listen to this, and the host of heaven worship
thee, worshipeth thee. Man naturally, but foolishly,
thinks that things created are just God set it in motion and
it just kind of a perpetual, you know, just kind of continues
to work. But according to the passage
in Nehemiah and in Psalms, it requires exactly, precisely the
same power of God to sustain that which was created as it
took to create it. God Almighty is, who has created
all these things, all the beasts and Everything, plants, heavens,
and He's preserving it. He's maintaining it. So preserving
man and beast gives praise unto the Lord. That's what the scripture
said in Nehemiah. All of this praises you, worships
you. You're talking about all these
animals and these butterfly things. All of it. Verse 7, how excellent is thy
loving kindness, O God. Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. Directed by God's
Spirit, David made mention of God's mercy and faithfulness
as being in the heavens. Then he proclaimed his rightness
like the great mountain, his judgments like a great deep. Then he instructed us to notice
his providential care of all of his creatures. Now the Spirit
moves David to proclaim the value and the brightness and the honor
of his loving kindness. That loving kindness that exceeds
all that we could ever anticipate, all that we could ever hope to
deserve, but he's mercifully shown. And knowing something
of it by the revelation of God's word, the regenerated vessels
of his mercy take refuge in him. The scripture says that, verse
7, men put to trust regenerated men under the shadow of thy wings. Psalm 17, 8 confesses the heart
and the desire of a needy sinner concerning that shadow of thy
wings. Keep me as the apple of thy eye. Hide me under the shadow
of thy wings. Psalm 57, one, be merciful unto
me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee,
yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these
calamities be overcast, until they're passed away. So the comfort
of a believer, when he talks about putting his trust and finding
safety in the shadow or the shade or the defense of his wings,
what he's saying is this, I know the Lord's there. You know, if
I'm standing outside and it's a sunshiny day, and I can see
my own shadow, you know what that means? I'm there. I'm standing
there. That's the only way you can see
my shadow. So to be under the shadow of His wings, that means
the Lord's ever-present. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. He's ever-present. He beholds
and He cares for His people. And for those that have put their
trust Under the shadow of his wings, verse eight says, they
shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house,
and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasure.
They'll be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. There's another one that I thought
about. The house. What is the house
of the Lord? What is it? Well, twofold. Number one, in this life, It's
the local assembly. This is it. I can prove this.
David said, Psalm 122.1, I was glad when they said unto me,
let us go into the house of the Lord. What is he talking about? Coming together as God's people. David said in Psalm 26.8, Lord,
I've loved the habitation of thy house and the place where
thine honor Where does the honor of the Lord dwell? Where Christ
is preached. The gospel of God's free grace
is preached. When our Lord was on this earth,
the scripture says he drove some money changers out of a temple
and he said, it's written, my house shall be called the house
of prayer. You made it a den of thieves.
What do you think he was talking about? The local assembly, that's
what he was talking about. The place where God has raised
up the gospel. That's His house, where His people,
where His body meets, a place where they feast and they're
satisfied with the fatness of the abundance of Christ. That's
the only thing they feast on. They feast on Him, the bread
of heaven. Untold thousands, that's what He said. It said,
they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house.
All over this world. There are assemblies where the
Lord's raised up in every nation, kindred, tribe. God has a people. And they all come together. Now
here's some of God's elect sitting right here in this congregation
this morning, I'm convinced. And here they are, they're feasting
on Christ. And those in other places, they're
feasting on Christ, and the Lord's feeding them, and there's an
abundance of eating. Who can measure, who can tell
the abundance? So the house of the Lord, in
this light, but also the house of the Lord is glory. Heaven. Listen. John 14, in my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I'd have told
you, I go to prepare a place for you. So the house of the
Lord is where the Lord is. In this life, glory. And God's
people are gonna be abundantly satisfied. Concerning the abundance
of the fatness of God's house of glory, the abundance of it,
how much is it? Well, the scripture says, First
Corinthians 2.9, it's written, I have not seen, heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God has
prepared for them that love him. We've recently seen some that
have left as others have and entered into glory. Just a couple
of weeks ago, Brother Bill Grisham, Lord please take him home. A
thought went through my mind, I wonder what he sees. I wonder
what he knows now. what he beholds. I know what
the Lord said. They're gonna see him as he is,
and they're gonna be like him. What does that mean? I don't
know. But whatever it is, I can tell you this, it's gonna be
abundant. Verse eight, they shall be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make
them drink of the river of thy pleasures. Psalm 46, four says,
there is a river. That is a perpetual constant
flowing of grace and plenty. The streams whereof shall make
glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the
Most High. Mr. Spurgeon said this concerning
this river. He said divine grace is a never
failing river. which yields refreshment and
consolation to God's people. It's a river of life, which the
church above and below partakes of forever. Brother Henry said
years ago, in his latter years, he said, I've got more brethren
in heaven than I do here. So many of them have passed on,
and they're alive. They're gloriously alive. And by the grace of God, we'll
soon see them and be with them. Mr. Spurgeon said, it's a river
whose course is not altered, but it follows its serene course
without disturbance. I see pictures of rivers, and
you have too, and it'll have like where it used to go, and
now it's an oxbow lake, and part of it's been cut off. Not this
river. This river is divinely flowing
according to God's everlasting covenant of grace. It doesn't
alter. It doesn't change. Verse 9, with
thee is the fountain of life, and in thy light shall we see
life. With thee is the fountain, the
source of life, natural and spiritual. Naturally, God created the heavens
and the earth, the plants, the creatures, the sea, man, All
without man's assistance, and spiritually, he did the same
thing. The scripture says that we're
born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of
man, but of God. Jonah 2, 9 says salvation is of the Lord. The
scripture says that latter part of verse 9, and in thy light
shall we see light. In thy light. Who is God's light? Oh, you know
that. Who is? Who is the brightness
of God's glory? Who is the expressed image of
his person? In Christ, in thy light, shall
we see light. Christ, who is the light, he
said this of himself, I am the light of the world. And in Christ,
we shall, by the grace and good pleasure of God, see and behold
and consider and discern the discoveries of God's love for
His people. And by faith, we'll behold our
need of Him and call upon Him. Verse 10, Oh, continue Thy lovingkindness
unto them that know Thee, and Thy righteousness to the upright
and hard. Draw out. Draw out in length. That's what He said. Continue
Thy love. Lord, keep us. Keep us in the
manifestation of your loving kindness, those that know you. Know you and love you and come
to you and regenerate. Not just know of you. I said
before, demons know that there's a God, but God's people know. That's what Paul says. Oh, that
I might know Him. Know Him. Know Him personally. Know Him in union with him. Oh, continue thy loving kindness
unto them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright
in heart. Having put away the sins of your
people by your shed blood, continue to deal with us. Now listen,
here's what he's saying. Continue with us in the rightness
of your satisfied justice. It's what he said. We started
off this message by talking about what we are by nature. David
admitted that. He said, I see, I see the transgression
of the wicked saying in my heart that I'm one of them, born just
like any others. But now he's saying this. He
said, Lord, continue thy loving kindness unto them that know
thee and thy righteousness, the rightness of your judgment and
justice to the upright in heart. What does he mean by that? Lord,
remember that Christ has put away my guilt. Lord, remember
that Christ has taken my sins upon him and you judged him.
You judged him on my behalf. Lord, remember that. Listen to
this, 1 John 1. Now, if we confess our sins,
he's faithful and just. to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. How can God forgive a sinner?
He's already dealt with that sinner's sin for his people in
Christ. Now he's faithful and he's just.
He's just to forgive them. Verse 11, let not the foot of
pride come against me and let not the hand of the wicked remove
me. Lord, protect me from myself
And from the hand of others, let me not be found, be overtaken
in a walk of pride in myself and by others who proudly and
heartily resist me, your son, your adopted son, and you. There are the workers of iniquity
fallen, for they're cast down and shall not be able to rise. Here the psalmist in conclusion
proclaims his trust in the Word of the Lord. All the writers
on this agreed, and I'm sure they're right. When David said,
there, there are the workers, there, it's like he was pointing
to something that he saw. He saw the faithfulness of God,
and the righteousness of God, and the mercy of God, right there. There. There by faith, He points
to the surety of His hope, of the Lord's promise. Never leave
Him, never forsake Him. He rests in the truth that God
is going to justly deal with His sin in the person of Christ,
and He's going to justly deal with the sin of those that resist
His Son in them. There are the workers of iniquity
falling. They are cast down and they're not going to be able
to get up, unlike the righteous, who shall rise from their fallings,
their stumblings, and in the day of judgment, they're going
to behold the mercy of God to them. I pray that the Lord blesses
our hearts and just in the honesty of this man David, a man after
God's own heart that saw himself as a creature, a fallen creature
in Adam. Oh, but a redeemed, regenerated,
called out, vessel of God's mercy. I pray that God give us some
comfort in it. If we're honest about ourselves,
and honest about our need of mercy from Him, for His glory
and our good. Amen.