Let's take our Bibles now and
turn with me to the book of Psalm, chapter 51. Psalm 51. I'm so thankful that Almighty
God would in his indescribable mercy and grace tell a man what
he is by nature. I'm so thankful. Leave a man to himself and he
will think that he's okay. But if God is pleased to bring
a man to see himself as he is and show that man His mercy in
the precious Lord Jesus Christ. I'll tell you this, for me, by the grace of God, I think I can almost, I pray I
can, enter into what Paul did say. There is in me that is in
my flesh there was no good thing. But thanks be unto God that God
sent a preacher. I pray the Lord bless the Word
today. I pray that He blesses our hearts
understanding. A few years ago, quite a few
years ago, I was in the home of a friend. And this friend had come to a place where basically
we find David B. He had found himself in his mind
thinking that he didn't want to continue being where he was. as far as his marriage was concerned. And I was talking to him. I knew what he was getting ready
to do. So did his wife. And I asked him this question.
I said, let me just, I want to hear it. I want to hear it from
you. How are you going to justify
this? How do you justify this in your mind? I said, you're telling me that
you're just going to give it all up and you found somebody else. And he said, when I stand before
God, I'm going to get in the same line with King David. Well, my answer to that would
be this. If you stand in line with King David, which
was a foolish statement, then let's also consider David's
confession. If you're going to justify what
you're getting ready to do, and I'm going to tell you this one
thing, you better read the whole text to find out what God Almighty
did for David. I've entitled this message, A
Believer's Confession. Now, surely we don't have any
doubt having seen the record of David's sin, and the record of God's long
suffering and mercy to send a prophet to expose and correct David.
Now, understand something. What we've just seen in that
first message, here is man by nature and God's mercy to send
a preacher. And for God to bless the Word
to the heart. If God didn't bless that Word
to David's heart, grant him repentance, brand new resume, wouldn't have
made any difference. It would have been just words,
but something marvelous happened. The scripture says forth, and I'm thankful for this, I
want you to look in your Bibles, right above Psalm 51, before
the first verse starts, In my Bible it says this, to the chief
musician, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto
him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Here's what happened. Almighty God in His infinite
mercy and grace, and praise be unto His holy name, because of
the blood of his Son, that God Almighty had mercy. A just God
and a Savior had mercy on this sinner. And David, the Scripture
says, according to that heading up there, wrote down what was
in his heart. And he took the words And he
gave them to the chief musician. Put these words to music. And these words are going to
be sung in praise unto our God for his indescribable goodness,
mercy, and grace to men. The scripture begins, here's
David's confession. I saw, I've read, I see what
we all are by nature. I saw David. That's Martin. Let's just be honest about it. There's us by nature. Here's
God Almighty in mercy and grace sending a preacher. Do you have
any idea the mercy of God that God caused your path to cross
with a preacher of the gospel of God's grace? And didn't leave
you in just false religion. Verse 1, Psalm 51, Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Before David utters another thought,
He appeals to the mercy of Almighty God. Mercy! Mercy! As we said, nine months
at least had gone by, and David had not uttered one word of remorse
until God sent a preacher. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of God. It's the power of God unto salvation. Some might say, well, my old
conscience would break my heart. No, it will not. Your conscience
is the only thing that Almighty God blesses to the restoration,
to the salvation, to the regeneration of a sinner. The only means is
the gospel of God's grace. Have mercy on glorious thought. Tell me one more time about that
prodigal. Tell me one more time how this
boy told his dad, I'll take what's coming to me. I'll thank you
for that. I'll take it right now and I'm
gone. I'm out of here. And he took it and he spent it
all on Risen's living. And when he came to war, and
would have eaten the husk, instead he fed the hogs. And the scripture
says, and he came to himself, oh that God Almighty would cause
men to come to themselves. What a glorious picture, illustration,
story, parable, truth of God's grace. This boy said, I'm going
to go back. I'm going to go back and I'm
going to talk to my dad and I'm going to tell him. I said, I've
sinned against you. I've sinned against heaven. I'm
not worthy. I'm not worthy to be called your
son. Make me one of the hired hands. I'll be fine. And it says
that his dad saw him afar off. I think about that. How far did
Almighty God see His own when He saw them in everlasting, eternal
love and mercy in Christ? He's always saying that. They
fell in rebellion, but oh, the backdrop of God's mercy calls
a man. Have mercy on me according to
Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of Thy tenderness.
blot out my transgressions. Lord, all that is recorded before
you and in my conscience, erase it with
the holy and precious, glorious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blot out my transgressions. The only substance that can blot
out Lord, before you, not before others. Maybe I can hide it from
you. But Lord, blot out my transgressions. Wash me, verse 2, thoroughly
from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Wash me, Lord,
in the blood, the fountain that's open for sin. What I have done,
what I am by nature is awful. And I need you. I need you. And you only. Lord, to wash me,
to bathe me from the pollution of sin. Now, but I want you to
notice something. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Lord, forgive me. Forgive me. Pardon me. Pardon me. But I want you to look at the
next request. cleanse me from my sin." Now,
what a request. I want you to consider with me
for just a second what he just asked. Lord, pardon me for what
I know I've done. Wash me throughly from my sins. And then, Lord, let there be
no record. What a request. Lord, I ask you
to forgive me, but cleanse me, justify me, make it pure, make
me uncorruptible. Boy, I'm telling you, a believer
appealing to the mercy of Almighty God asks for only that which
God Almighty can do. Lord, would you absolutely purge
it. Lord, cleanse me. That effect
of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, sin
is filthy to think of, to speak of, to hear of, and to do it. And only you, Lord, can wash
me, cleanse me, and justify me before your sight. Oh, what a request. Verse 3, For I acknowledge my
transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Lord, I can lay
this transgression at no one's feet but myself. Let me tell you the heart of
an unbeliever. It wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault. You drove
me to this. Your actions made me do this.
It wasn't me. I tried to do the
right thing. David said, I acknowledge my
transgressions and my sin is ever before me. I confess what
I am. A believer's confession is to
lay himself honestly before God, appealing to God's mercy. When
a believer asks for mercy, it's because he knows he needs mercy. Having our sin ever before us
is to be convinced of it, to be troubled under it, to be grieved
over it. This is the voice, this is the
heart of a believer. Here is a believer. Two natures. That nature that sinneth not,
and that nature that does nothing but rebel. My sin is ever before me. My
friend, you that know Him, you'll go to your grave grieving over
what you are by nature, and rejoicing all the while in the mercy of
Almighty God. Lifting up your heart in praise
Adoration and thankfulness unto Him who is altogether worthy,
worthy that He would show mercy. I hear those words, I will have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. Lord have mercy on me. Against thee, verse 4, thee only
have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest
be justified. when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest." Though we can surely understand
that great wrongs and injustices are committed against our fellow
creatures, it just makes me so sick of myself when I say something. It's just disrespectful. Someone I know, someone I love,
I'm thinking, Lord, put a watch on my mouth. Set a watch. Lord, why? Why have I never learned against Thee, Thee only, have
I sinned and done this in Thy sight? My sin may be hidden before the
eyes of others. You may never know what I really
thought. You probably won't. But I'll
tell you this, I'm not going to tell you. But before the omniscient,
omnipotent, omnipresent God, against thee and thee only have
I done this in thy sight, in defiance. while you look on, not ignorantly,
but arrogantly. David said that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Lord, you're right. Lord, you're pure. Lord, you're
holy. And I'm wrong. And your law is
just, and I broke it. And Lord, you're the merciful
God. Have mercy on me. And whatever, Lord, you choose
to do with this sinner according to
your good pleasure. If I be without chastisement,
I'm none of yours. As I've told you so many times
before, I've never spanked my children except for rebellion,
disobedience. And I had to do it out of love.
Who the Lord loves, He chastens. David said, against you I've sinned. I've
done evil in your sight, that you might be justified when thou
speakest and be clear when thou judgest. Hold your finger right
there. I want to turn over to 2 Samuel.
I want to read you something. 2 Samuel 24. 2 Samuel 24, when David said that
thou might be justified. That thou might be justified
when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest. It is by the
mercy and grace of God that God chastens his children. There's
no parent in here that's going to let their child just go on
in rebellion if you love them. Not if you love them. You're
not going to let them do it. You want them. David said, Lord, that you might
be right. I've done this against you. That you might be justified. In 2 Samuel, chapter 24, verse
10, David's heart, what had happened, David had numbered the nation
of Israel. He had numbered it. He shouldn't
have. And David's heart, verse 10,
2 Samuel 24, 10, David's heart is smoking after the number of
people. And David said unto the Lord,
I have sinned greatly, and that I have done. And now I beseech
thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done
very foolishly. For when David was up in the
morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's
seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I
offer thee three things. Choose thee one of them that
I may do it unto thee. Now here's what's happened. David
numbered the people. He shouldn't have. Just wait on God. God will take care of his people.
You don't have to count to see how much you've got. I mean,
how strong are we? How big are we now? What can
we do? He numbered the people and he
wasn't supposed to. And God sent a prophet to him. And God said,
I'm going to offer you three things. Now you choose. which one of them that you want,
that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David and told
him and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come upon
thee in the land? Or wilt thou flee three months
before thine enemies while they pursue thee? Or that there be
three days' pestilence in thy land? Now advise, and see what
answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said
the wisest thing he could say. David said unto Gad, I am in
a grave strain. Let us fall now into the hand
of the Lord, for His mercies are great, and let me not fall
into the hand of man. What he is saying is, Lord, I
don't want to choose. Lord, I have sinned against You. God said, now I will let you
choose one of these three. Which one do you want? And David
said, I don't want to choose. Lord, whatever you send me is
according to your mercy. I'm not going to choose. He told
the prophet, he said, go tell God I'm not going to choose.
So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning
even to the time appointed. And there died of the people
from Dan, even to Beersheba, 70,000 men. And when the angel
stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, is nothing. Stay now thine hand
in the angel of the Lord, as by the threshing floor of Aaron
the Jebusite. David said back in Psalm 51,
Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done evil in thy
sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest
and be clear when thou judgest. Lord, do to me whatever is good
in your sight. Lord, I've done this. I'm a rebel
against you. And whatever you choose to do,
it's according to your mercy. My dear friend, listen to the
indescribable mercy of God for rebels and sinners such as we
are. God chose to make His Son sin. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in you. Aren't you thankful
that God didn't leave it to me and you to choose? God Almighty,
Lord, that you might be justified and clear and perfect and holy. Lord, you dealt with me. You dealt with me. in a substitute,
that you might be just, justified when you judged. He judged my
guilt and all the guilt of all His people in His Son. How thankful
I am that God didn't leave it to my free will. And now, for those that He loves
right now in time, Those that He chases because He loves and
brings them to His own. Paul says, this light affliction,
this light affliction which is but for a moment. Oh my, listen,
I sinned against Him. I have done this evil in His
sight. And that He might be justified,
right, clear, holy, perfect when He speaks and be clear when He
judges, He dealt with me. in absolute mercy and grace. Behold, verse 5, I was shaken
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Lord, what I am, what I did, it wasn't
a slip. I wasn't just a victim of my
environment. This is what I am by nature as
a result of my total corruption of nature. evidence of transgression. No one can be blamed for what
I've done with me. Behold, verse 6, thou desirest
truth in the inward parts, in the hidden part. Thou shalt make
me to know wisdom. Lord, it's not pretense. Not
pretense that you're looking at me. Your desire, your love,
you demand faithfulness. faithfulness. Thou desirest truth
in the inner parts, in the hidden part. Thou shalt make me to know
wisdom. Lord, what you demand, you provide. Lord, what you demanded of me,
you demanded absolute truth in the heart. Lord, You provided yourself a
lamp. What you demanded, what you desired,
Christ. Lord, He's the one that stands
for me. He's the one that answers for me. You desire absolute faithfulness. Oh, make me to know Christ who
is my wisdom. Lord, teach me of Him Teach me
a fresh of him. Lord, help me. Purge me, verse
7, with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow. Hyssop. I went back and looked
where hyssop, what the And they would take hyssop in
the land of Egypt. They slew the lamb. And after
they slew that paschal lamb and took the blood, they took hyssop
and sprinkled it on the doorpost side top. And the Lord said,
you get behind it, you get inside. And I'm going to come through. And when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. I'm going to pass over you. David said, Lord, purge
me with His blood. Lord, apply the blood of the
precious Lord Jesus Christ. Sprinkle the blood of His atonement
upon me. Purge me, Lord. Oh, how faith
is beheld right here. Man by nature, he puts all of
his faith and all of his rest and all of his stuff out of the
other. David said, Lord, if you purge
me with the blood of the precious Lord Jesus Christ, I'll be clean. No other way. Wash me. And I'll be whiter than snow.
Faith sees, beholds the blood of Christ as the only cleansing. And I'm talking about faith that
beholds the blood of Christ plus nothing. Nothing. I've said before, you rest in
your profession of faith. You rest. in your walking down,
or your church membership, or your baptism, or your eating
of the Lord's Supper, or you rest in anything else, and I'm
telling you, David said, purge me with his sin. Apply the blood
to this sinner, wash me, and I'll be wonderless now. Make
me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast
broken may rejoice. Make me to hear. I want to just
turn over to, I'll read this to you again, Zechariah. Zechariah
chapter 7, let me just pause here. David says, make me to
hear. Make me to hear. Zechariah 7, verse 8-11, And
the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, Thus speaketh
the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy
and compassion to every man who is brother. And oppress not the
widow, nor the fatherless, nor the stranger, nor the poor. Let
none of you imagine evil against his brother in your hearts, but
they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and
stopped their ears, that they should not hear." Are you telling me that man by
nature does not desire to hear God's Word? Yes, sir, I'm telling
you that. Yes, sir, I'm telling you that. David said, make me to hear joy
and gladness. Lord, give me ears. I confess
that man by nature resists to hear your voice. And Lord, if
you're silent, if you're silent and justly silent, if you choose
to be silent, Can you imagine if God is silent to a man or
a woman? If Almighty God chooses to allow
a man to just, God speaks and he pulls the shoulder back, I
don't want to talk. This is what God has said. I
don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that. Lord,
make me to hear joy and gladness. The Lord calls me to hear the
glorious gospel. My ear has been heavy. I have no desire to hear your
voice, but Lord, now I do. Lord, now I do. Make me to hear
your voice of forgiveness. Tell me, as I've said before,
tell me one more time. I've heard this before. I know
you've brought it up before, but tell me one more time. Tell
me how God put away my guilt. Tell me how God justified me
eternally by the blood, by the evidence of faith. Tell me how
God Almighty set forth that a man is justified as he speaks out
of the abundance of a new heart. Tell me that again. Tell me how
a believer is set forth in the Scriptures. Make me to hear,
cause me to hear the joy that the bones without is broken. Lord, the very pain of my heart
when I see myself compared to the agony of a broken bone, that
I may rejoice and be glad for your mercy. Have you noticed
that David, here before and I can tell you until the end of the
chapter, he didn't set forth anything rejoicing in what he
had done. David knew. I did all the rebelling,
God showed all the mercy. Almighty God, have mercy on me. Hide, verse 9, thy face from
my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Lord, justly and mercifully,
look not upon my sins in justice, in judgment, in wrath. Erase them and let the account
be canceled. David was ashamed, and all God's
people are. Here's a man that's speaking,
asking for that which Almighty God has already done for him.
When David asked for mercy, do you think God had already had
mercy on him? When he asked Him, create within
me a clean heart. Blot out my transgressions. Do
you think the Father had already seen the blood slain? The Lamb
slain from before the foundation of the world, do you think so?
This is the evidence of life. Ask for God's mercy. Ask. It will be given. It already
has. Verse 10, create in me a clean
heart. Oh God, renew a right spirit
within me. Only a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ, broken under the weight of His old man, asks for that
which the Lord alone can do. Create in me a clean heart, O
God. This is what a believer is concerned
about. Lord, I desire to stand before
You clean, pure. And according to Your Word, this
is only in Your Son. Lord, look upon me robed in his
precious righteousness. Lord, renew within me a right
spirit, a constant spirit, a steadfast spirit. Cast me not away from
thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Lord, don't
abandon me. He said, I'll never leave you,
I'll never forsake you. I'll not leave you in sorrow
and sin, David says, concerning what the Lord has already promised.
Lord, don't cast me away. Now, I'll tell you this, there's
been some records of some that Almighty God left themselves. How about Judas, Demas, Saul,
Pharaoh, Simon Magus? What was the difference in them
and a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? What's the difference?
The grace of God. The grace of God. A believer realizing the glorious
gospel of God's grace And thinking to himself, Lord, there were
some multitudes that followed you and followed you no more. Lord, don't cast me away from
your presence. Lord, if you're there, I have everything. I have
all. Lord, if I have not you, I have
nothing. Take not thy Holy Spirit away
from me. Withdraw not the comfort of your
Spirit from me. Desert me not to my own weakness. In the very midst, when I would have to discipline
my children, and they felt the sting of discipline, I would
always do this. I would always sit them in my
lap, and I would hug them, and I would tell them, I love you.
I love you. You're mine, and that's the reason
I have to discipline you. But don't you ever forget who's
you are. Who's you are. You're mine. And
I love you. And I'm going to teach you by
the grace of the Lord. Take not thy spirit, holy spirit
from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. Not my salvation, your salvation.
And uphold me with thy free spirit. Obviously David remembered former
times of fellowship. A time when he was aided by the
Lord in killing a baron. July, when the Lord was with
him, was five stones. The fellowship that Almighty
God allows his people. And then when they realize, see
something of what they are, of thy salvation. He calls me,
Lord, to remember. We eat at the Lord's table. Why
do we eat at the Lord's table? The Lord said, you do this in
remembrance of me. And we take and we eat. We say,
Lord, what that bread and that cup represents, your broken body,
your shed blood, Lord, I remember why. And I remember the mercy
of God. Thank you. Uphold me by your
free spirit. Lord, only you can keep me from
falling. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be
converted unto thee. You know, those that are qualified
to express to others the pain of rebellion are those that have
felt the pain of their rebellion, experienced. Lord, what a teacher.
And sinners shall be converted unto thee. Not that regeneration
is walked within a sinner in any other way. the Holy Spirit's
blessing in power. But David sets forth here that
by the grace of God, when a believer is shown what he is, God restores
him. And he sets that forth. Almighty God sets forth here,
I will teach transgressors just like me. Thy ways and sinners
shall be converted unto thee. Remember when the Lord told Peter
what it was. Peter, of course, had boasted
of himself and told the Lord how faithful he was going to
be. In Luke 22, verse 31-34, the scripture says, And the Lord
said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that
he may sift you as wheat. But I pray for you. that thy
faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
Peter was already a regenerated man, but the Lord was telling
him, this is what you're going to do. This is what you're going
to do. When you're converted, strengthen
thy brethren. He said unto him, Lord, I'm ready
to go with thee both to prison and to death. And he said, I
tell thee, Peter, the cocks shall not crow this day before that
thou shalt thrice deny that you know me. Peter, Satan has desired
to have you and set you free, but I pray for you that your
faith will fail not. And when you're converted, when
the Lord teaches you what He is by nature, and God's mercy
to keep Him, strengthen me, brethren. Strengthen me. Strengthen me. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God. Thou God of my salvation, and
my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Lord only. Before you, only before you can
I be delivered of the blood guiltiness of what I am, what I've done.
Oh Lord, open thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy
praise. Lord, I don't even know how to
thank you. Open my mouth as you opened the
mouth of Zacharias. Teach me. Verse 16, For thou
desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou desirest
not in burnt offerings, it's not the pictures, it's not the
tithes. If that were the desire of your heart, I'd do what I
could. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and contrived heart, whom God thou wilt not
despise. The sacrifice that Almighty God
accepts is the blood of His Son, the honor to His Son, as the
Spirit of God teaches His people. And they, as kings and priests
unto Him, offer the sacrifice of praise. Oh, the value of a
broken heart. The sacrifices of God, a broken
heart, do good in thy good pleasure and desire. Fill thou the walls
of Jerusalem. Oh, how tender is the heart of
a renewed sinner concerning that which is tender to God. Lord,
I was an embarrassment to you, to your people. Cause the heathen
blasphemy. Lord, I pray, do good in thy
good pleasure to your church. Lord, those that I was disrespectful
Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Lord, call out of darkness your
people as lively stones. Build that which alone you can
build. Then shalt thou be pleased with
the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offerings and whole
burnt offerings. Then shall they offer books upon
thy altar. I know we no longer bring the
sacrifices of blood of bulls and goats. But the wording of
David sets forth the sacrifice of every believer. This is the
verse that I referred to a minute ago. By Him, Hebrews 13, 15,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That
is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. I shall be pleased with the sacrifices
of righteousness. praise, honor unto Him for the
sake of Christ. When it says with burnt offerings
and whole burnt offerings, what it is symbolically, believers
hold nothing back in their thankfulness before the Lord. I know we see
Him part. I know we know Him part. I know
right now we realize some of the frailty of this life, but
God's people They are truthful by the grace of God, by a new
heart with Him, truthful of themselves, truthful concerning their need
of Him, and truthful concerning their thankfulness. As I said,
not that we are, not that we will be, but we truly are. The picture of every man by nature.
The mercy of God who sent a preacher to his own. And the confession
of what Almighty God teaches that man. And how that man responds
to God. In thankfulness, adoration, praise
for the precious blood of Christ. Never, never looking to himself. If David looked to himself, there's
no hope there. For Christ's sake.