Let us commence our service this
afternoon by singing together hymn 393 to the tune Irish 160. A crumb of mercy, Lord, I crave. I'm worthy to be fed with dainties
such as angels have, or with the children's bread. Hymn 393,
tune Irish 160. O Lamb of God, have mercy, O Lord,
I pray, ? To God be true we pledge ? ?
With an anxious heart as angels cry ? ? Oh, bring in the children's bread
? ? And pity on my greedy soul ? Thy
peace shall forever be, Thy love shall forever be, ? And live that holy day ? ? Behold me now ? ? Straight at
thy gate ? ? Do not myself deny ? ? With love in my heart ? ?
Do think of it ? ? You help me all the while I die
? ? And love does give the heart to pray ? Thou wilt define, my dear, From
nature, Lord, thy ways away. But my faith in this shall be. So shall my joyful soul adore
? The richness of thy grace ? ? Now and ever be in that mercy now
? ? And evermore ? Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God in Psalm 51. Psalm 51. To the Chief Musician, a Psalm
of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone
in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin, For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, 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.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me, Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the
hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. hide thy
face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in
me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit, Then
will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted
unto thee. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips, and
my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not
sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure
unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem,
Then shall they be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine altar. May the Lord bless the reading
of his own precious word and grant unto us a spirit of real
prayer. Almighty, most merciful and eternal
God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, we desire to bow before thy great
majesty, to call upon thy great and thy holy name. We desire
to be led of the Spirit, blessed, holy, divine Spirit
of truth. We pray for thy heavenly power,
to be known and felt in our hearts. And that it may be with us here
this afternoon as it was with the dear apostle when he could
say, for our gospel came unto you not in word only, but in
power, in the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance. O gracious
God, we pray that we might know thee in the power of thy resurrection. in the fellowship of thy sufferings,
being made conformable unto thy death. We desire to know and to feel
the sacredness of the atonement, the preciousness of Jesus Christ. We desire union and communion
with him. And we desire, O Lord, to be
led into those heartbreaking sorrows that he suffered to redeem
us from sin and Satan's power. Oh, do come and grant that delivering
grace. As one says, we shall obtain
delivering grace in the distressing hour. Oh, we do pray that we
may indeed obtain delivering grace. Even here this afternoon,
We pray for any and any particular trouble or trial or perplexity,
sorrow, sadness or bereavement. Those with those inward battles
and troubles and trials and temptations. We pray that thou would deliver.
Even as thou has exhorted us to pray, deliver us from temptation. For Lord, thine is the power,
the kingdom, and the glory. We pray for Stephen and Helen
and David Jemson at this great time of loss. We do pray that
it's a time also, Lord, of affliction with them. Be gracious unto them,
grant thy healing hand and thy support in mercy. through these
deep waters through which they pass. We do humbly beseech thee,
but we thank thee that we sorrow not as others that are without
hope. We thank thee, Lord, for the
sweet hope they have of the young man that has passed from time
into eternity. And, O Lord God, we do pray that
thou would remember our brethren, the deacons. Give them wisdom,
grace, and help in all their responsibilities. Remember us
as a church and as a congregation. And we pray, most gracious Lord,
that thou would remember us with the favour that thou barest unto
thy people, and that thou would pour forth thy blessings from
above. May the power that brings salvation
be exerted in the Word. May we see signs following the
preaching of the Word, for thy great name's sake. Thy Word declares unto us not
by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of
hosts. Oh, do grant, most gracious God,
that we may see thy work, thy power, and thy glory as thou
usest to be in the sanctuary. And that the Lord Jesus may be
exalted among us as a Prince and as a Saviour, to give repentance
and remission of sins. Gracious God, do hear us and
let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their
children. And build thou the walls of Jerusalem,
send a day of real spiritual prosperity Arise, arise, O God
of grace, into thy rest ascend, thou and the ark of thy strength. Remember those of us, O Lord,
that are in the evening time of life journey, and the longest can't be long
before we launch through tracks unknown and see thee on thy judgment
throne. We pray to be prepared for that
great day, Remember dear Ina at home and support and sustain
her in her great age. We do humbly beseech of thee
and put the arms of thine everlasting love around her and grant her
thy divine support and blessing. We pray, O Lord, for the little
ones and the children. We love to see them in the sanctuary
and we pray that thou would bless them indeed. and put thy holy
fear in their hearts in their young and tender years. And the
dear young friends, Lord, remember them for good. Bring them to
living faith in Jesus Christ and make them true followers
of thee and of those who through faith and patience inherit the
promises. Lord, hear us, we humbly pray
thee, graciously work Even as thou hast promised, I will work,
and who shall let it? And we pray that we may see thy
work and thy power, and see the fulfilling of thy promises. Instead
of thy father shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes
in all the earth. We pray that thou wouldst put
them among the princes of thy people. We do humbly beseech
thee, and graciously arise for our help. We pray, most gracious
Lord, that the light and power of gospel truth may shine into
this village and the surrounding villages and hamlets, that we
may see thy wonderful work of grace for thy great namesake. And in gathering, even as I have
promised, I will bring thy sons from far and thy daughters from
the ends of the earth. May the prodigals return. We
earnestly beseech thee, Lord, that the prodigals may return.
They may be caused to be in want and caused to return into the
sanctuary. Come to the place of bread and
come to the place where there is living water and make this
little sanctuary an oasis in the desert of this world. We
do humbly beseech of thee for thy great namesake. And O Lord,
our God, we pray for those that are away seeking rest and change.
Thou wills bring them home in peace and safety at the appointed
time. And we pray, most gracious Lord,
that thou wills remember all in the midst of the journey of
life and have mercy. O Lord, we pray thee, those that
are bringing up children, give them wisdom and grace and help
in all matters. When the enemy comes in like
a flood, may the spirit of the Lord lift up a standard against
him. Sometimes, Lord, he comes in
those different ways and catches us unawares. He comes as an angel
of light to deceive us. We need thee to defend us. He
comes as a roaring lion to devour us. We need thee to preserve
us and keep us. we do humbly beseech of thee.
Lord, we live in very dark days, solemn days, when the spirit
and power of Antichrist is so prevalent, and wickedness abounds
on every hand, and unrighteousness. O most gracious Lord, we do pray
that thou wouldst arise. We look back in the history of
our nation, and there have been those times when in great darkness
and the powers of darkness exerting their power and thou has exerted
thy power in the gospel of thy grace in the glorious person
of our Lord Jesus Christ and we pray that thou would come
again and exert thy sovereign power in our nation and raise
up those in high places that fear thy name and that love thee
and desire to serve thee in their day and in their generation. Lord, do hear us. Men are very
bold in sin. And, O Lord, we do pray that
we may be bold in the preaching of the Gospel and the glories
of Jesus Christ. We do humbly beseech of Thee. Remember all Thy servants, Lord,
as they labour in word and doctrine. Grant them that they may dip
their foot in oil and be made acceptable unto the brethren.
Grant them understanding in thy word. Grant thee power of the
Holy Ghost. Grant mighty signs and wonders
to follow the preaching of the word. Lord, we thank thee for
some of the young men that thou hast sent forth and we pray that
thou wouldst gird them with all sufficient grace and establish
them in the truth. And we thank thee Most gracious
Lord, that thou dost hear prayer. We pray thee, the great Lord
of the harvest, to yet send true labourers into the harvest and
to truly build the walls of Jerusalem. Gracious God, do incline thine
ear. We do humbly beseech of thee
for thy great namesake. We thank thee, O Lord, for thy
Precious Word, we thank Thee for our house of prayer, we thank
Thee that we're able to freely meet together around Thy Word,
and we pray that these blessings may be long continued unto us,
and that we may each prize the privilege of coming together,
and that we may not forsake the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is, but help us to be constant and continual
and faithful in the house of God. Lord, we pray for those that
are burdened and exercised concerning the ordinances of thy house.
And we pray that thou would bring to fruition the work of thy hands,
that they may come and tell to sinners round what a dear saviour
they have found, and point to thy redeeming blood, and say,
behold, the way to God. Oh, be gracious, Lord, we humbly
beseech you. Remember our dear brother and
sister in Holland, and pray that thou wouldst bless them indeed,
and as they journey to us this coming week, we pray that thou
wouldst grant them safe journeys, and that we may have a time of
fellowship together, and feel that sweet union and communion
in Christ Jesus. Lord, we do thank thee for the
sacred and profound glory that there is in Jesus Christ. We
do thank thee that he is the altogether lovely one and the
chiefest among 10,000. He is the light of the world.
May that light shine into our hearts and may you become more
precious to us day by day, we do humbly beseech thee. Jesus
is precious, says the word, and Lord, thou art precious, and
we pray that thou would make thyself more precious. And we
thank thee for the preciousness of thy righteousness, Lord Jesus,
that glorious everlasting dress of thy people, the everlasting
robe of thy righteousness, Lord Jesus. We do thank thee that
the door of hope is open wide in Jesus' bleeding hands and
side. We thank thee that he has offered
that glorious, sacred sacrifice, and he has redeemed his people
with an everlasting salvation. None shall pluck them out of
thy father's hand. We thank thee for the safety
and security of thy people. They can never be lost. They're
eternally saved and thou wilt eternally deliver them. O most
gracious Lord, we thank thee for that beautiful word, he will
not fail. He died for our sins and rose
again for our justification and we desire a heart of gratitude,
of thanksgiving for the glorious, justifying righteousness of our
Lord Jesus Christ for his precious blood that he has shed and the
glories of the resurrection morn when death has been swallowed
up in victory. We thank thee for these wonderful
foundation truths of our most holy faith. He has ascended up
on high. He has led captivity captive.
He has received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also.
We do bless them, then, for the wonders and the glories that
dwell in our great High Priest. Jesus, full of all compassion,
for Lord Jesus our heart, and we desire to come to thee in
all our sinfulness, in all our need, in all our helplessness,
We desire to come to Thee, and to look to Thee, and to cleave
to Thee, and to follow Thee. And may Thy word be a lamp unto
our feet, and a light unto our palm. Make up in giving, O Lord,
where we do so fail in asking. Come and touch one's lips with
a live coal from off the heavenly altar. We ask for Jesus Christ's
sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 356, the tune is Everlasting Love, 942. Does the gospel word
proclaim, rest for those who weary be, then my soul put in
thy claim, sure that promise speaks to thee, marks of grace
I cannot show, All polluted is my breast, yet I weary am, I
know. And the weary long for rest. Hymn 356, tune Everlasting Love,
942. ? When I saw Him, He appeared to
me. ? ? When I saw Him, He appeared
to me. ? ? The joy of all His grace
He sent me. ? you O come, let us adore Him, O come,
let us adore Him, ? Early process of willow ? ? To
thy little treffish grow ? ? Sheath thy bush with earth's sunlight
? ? Till we are one again ? ? As my Savior once in Thee ? ?
Resurrected me of old grace ? ? Dead as I was, now in love am I ? In Christus' blood, we'll bear
new life to give, till there's one more day. Greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I would direct your attention to Psalm 51. And we'll read verse four for
our text. Psalm 51, verse four. Against thee, 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. Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned. The titles at the head of the
psalms are part of the inspired word of God. And it puts this
psalm into the context where it is. The psalm of David when
Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. And this of course is recorded
in the second book of Samuel. And in the 11th and 12th chapters,
and the way the Lord dealt with his servant, David. Must remember,
David was most godly and a most gracious king. He is called the
man after God's own heart. A man that did the will of the
Lord. But it shows what the Apostle
really intimates in the seventh chapter of the Romans that we
have, though we are believers, we have a sinful nature still.
There is a new man of grace and the old man of sin. And the one is the contrary to
the other. The apostle says in the Galatians, the flesh lusteth
against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And the one
is contrary to the other. And sometimes there is indeed
a great conflict, a great conflict that goes on in the hearts of
the Lord's people when they're tempted to evil. tempted to evil. Bathsheba, in this sense, she
was an innocent woman. She was bathing, which was a
normal thing to do. David saw her, saw that she was
a very beautiful woman. It says so in the second verse
of the 11th chapter of the second book of Samuel, and it came to
pass in an eventide that David arose from off his bed and walked
upon the roof of the king's house and from the roof he saw a woman
washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
And he was overcome with lust. He was the king. It was within
his power to send one of his servants to fetch You see, he
fell into that temptation. You know, friends, we can be
gone in a moment, and the lusts of our flesh arise. And to the living child of God,
that is a great trial. And it causes a great conflict. You may not sin after the same
similitude as David, but in something else. And it overcomes you. And it's something that is so
trying to the true child of God. So David, he sent and it says
in verse 5 there in chapter 11, and the woman conceived and sent
and told David and said, I am with child. A husband was one
of the soldiers in David's army. He tried to cover it up. He sent
to Joab and he asked him to send Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, Uriah
the Hittite. And when he sent, he thought
he would then send him down to his house and he would lay with
his wife and then they would think that was her child. But Uriah slept at the door of
the king's house with all the servants of his Lord, and went
not down to his house. And when they had told David,
saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah,
Camest thou not from thy journey? Why then didst thou not go down
unto thine house? And it was a gracious answer
that Uriah gave. The ark, and Israel, and Judah
abide in tents, and my Lord Joab, and the servants of my Lord are
encamped in the open fields, Shall I then go into mine house
to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As thou livest
and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. So David was
thwarted in his deception. So what then did he do? Well,
he then got him drunk and he went not down to his house. David
then wrote a letter to Joab, sent it by the hand of Uriah,
and he wrote in the letter, set Uriah in the forefront of the
hottest battle and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten
and die. That was David's command, the
king's command. And hence he says in our psalm,
deliver me from blood guiltiness. You see, my beloved friends,
when we fall into sin, it's like a slippery slope. One sin leads
to another sin. David's sin in taking Uriah's
wife, the sin of adultery. You see, and then the sin of
murder when he tried to cover up his own perverseness and sinfulness. He added sin to sin. And we were,
if we go in that pathway, we add sin to sin. You see, and
it says at the end of chapter 11, but the thing that David
had done displeased the Lord. And we see here how that, those
words in the quotation actually from the third chapter of Proverbs,
but in Hebrews 12, whom the Lord loveth, he chastened, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth. And there's a solemn word attached
to that in the Hebrews, that if we be without justicemen,
then are we bastards and not sons, because the Lord has just
left us in our sin. But if the Lord loves you, if
the Lord does a favour to you, he'll deal with you. He'll deal
with you. You see, and it goes on into
chapter 12, and the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came
unto him and said unto him that there were two men in one city,
the one rich and the other poor, the rich man had exceeded many
flocks and herds and the poor man had nothing save one little
ewe lamb which he had brought and nourished up and it grew
up together with him and with his children it did eat of his
own meat and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and
was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto
the rich man and he spared to take of his own flock and of
his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto
him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man
that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly
kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, as the Lord
liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die. and he shall restore the lamb
fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. And then we have these solemn
words. They must have been like a thunderbolt to David. And Nathan said to David, thou
art the man. Thou art the man. You see the
Lord, he'd revealed it unto Nathan. Thou art the man. power that must have entered
like a sword into his heart. Thou art the man. And David with his righteous
indignation, when he was told what is really a parable that
the Lord gave unto Nathan to speak before him. There was great
courage of Nathan to do that. David was the king. And Nathan said to David, Thou
art the man. And he says, Thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel and delivered
thee out of the hand of Saul. I gave thee thy master's house
and thy master's wives into thy bosom and gave thee the house
of Israel and of Judah. And if that had not been too
little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such
things. Wherefore, hast thou despised the commandment of the
Lord to do evil in his sight. Thou hast killed your brother
Hittite with the sword, hast taken his wife to be thy wife,
and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. And then we have these most solemn
words, now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine
hand. because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of
your rather Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold,
I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house.
And it wasn't long, in fact we read in the next chapters, how
almost immediately there became trouble in David's house when
His brother Amnon, who was the direct heir to the throne. He
was David's firstborn. He literally lay with Absalom's
sister. You must remember that he had
many wives, so Absalom's mother was not the same as Amnon's mother. You see, and then these things
happen over time. Absalom left it two years. His
fury burned within him because of what Amnon, the direct heir
to the throne, had done unto his sister Tamar. And he slew Amnon. How that word, when that happened,
how that word must have come back to David. The sword shall not depart from
thy house. And you can trace right through,
the way through David's life how the sword never departed
from his life, from his pathway. His own son Absalom rose up and
deposed him from the throne of Israel so that he was at to run
into the wilderness and hide. Absalom was then slain himself
by Joab. You see my beloved friends, sin
has consequences and especially the sin of a child of God after
having been brought to know the Lord and to know his word and
his commandments and then to willfully sin against the God
of heaven. And the thing displeased the
Lord. Now the word that Nathan spoke
unto David, and we know from this psalm, it went right into
his heart, right into his very soul, convinced him of his sin,
of his wickedness. Now, the thing here, my beloved
friends, which we wish to highlight is it brought David down utterly
in himself. There were no excuses. There
were no excuses. And where there is real repentance,
real true conviction, and true repentance, there'll be no excuses. I've heard people say, that they
sinned and yes we did wicked, but because of this, because
of that, because of something else, they make excuses. Look at Adam and Eve in the garden
when they fell into sin, when they took of the tree of the
knowledge of good and of evil. When the Lord spoke to Adam,
the woman which El gave is me, she gave it unto me. And when
he spoke to Eve, She said, oh the serpent, he beguiled me. You see my beloved friend's excuses. But where the Lord, by his spirit,
truly convinces us of our sin, there'll be no excuses. As David, he says here, have
mercy upon me, oh God. That was his only plea, that's
all he had. Have mercy upon me, oh God, according
to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies, blot out my transgressions. I've often explained to you the
meaning of the word transgression, the idea behind the word. It
is like a field with a boundary, with a fence or a hedge all around
it. And if you break through the boundary or the hedge, you're
transgressing. That's the meaning of the word.
And God has put a law, a holy law. He's written it in the heart
of man. And it's written in his holy
word. And if we break that holy law,
such as David did, firstly in adultery, but then in murder, then we transgress God's holy,
righteous law. And when he comes by his Holy
Spirit and convinces us of that, and then we shall know what it
is like David does here, confession. Confession of our sin. Wash me. Why? Because he felt defiled.
He defiled himself in committing adultery. Wash me. throughly
from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin is ever before me. The way of the transgressor is
hard. You know, when the Lord first
began to work in my brother Joe's heart, began to stir up his heart
and convince him of his sin. And it was a word that attached
itself to him. And that was it, the way of the
transgressor is hard. And he happened to be building
houses in the same village that we were brought up in at that
time. My father was at home on his own and He went up there
to see him occasionally, well, when he had his lunch break.
And he said, I opened my heart to him one day. He said, I was
so burdened, so oppressed with sin. And he said, I told him
that word was within the way of the transgressor's heart.
And Joe said, he sat there and wept, my father did. I thought to myself, why is he
weeping? I'm in trouble, I'm in trial and here he is weeping.
He said to me, wouldn't I weep if my son came and told what
the Lord was doing in his heart? You see, my beloved friends,
it's the spirit of God that truly convinces us of our sin. When
he, the spirit of truth, had come, He will convince the world
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. Now the other thing he acknowledges,
which is in our text, is that his sin was against God. He was brought to realize very
thoroughly against thee, The 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. And we've already read
what the Lord said, the sword shall not depart from thine house.
David knew the truth. He knew the truth. He knew the
gospel. You can tell he did when you read through the book of
Psalms. and what was revealed to him concerning Jesus Christ
and he writes those beautiful psalms, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want, he maketh me to lie down beside the still
waters. He knew the truth in its living
reality in his heart. He knew what it was to be delivered
from the sins of his youth etc. But now he sins against light
and knowledge and that's a different sin altogether. He had light
He had knowledge, he knew the truth, but he willfully went
against what he knew to be the truth. Thou shalt not commit
adultery. Thou shalt not kill. He'd done
both of those things. One led to the other against
thee. 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. How that must
have come back to David, you know, when Absalom slew Hamel,
the direct heir to the throne. And then Absalom drove him from
his throne. David thought a lot of his children,
to the point of spoiling them. And that was the very thing that
the Lord used to chastise him. He was overindulgent to his children. He was overindulgent to Absalom
in particular. But it was Absalom that drove
him from Jerusalem. You see, and he would have known
and felt and realised When he says it here so openly, thou
mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou
judgest. God judged him. God dealt with
him. God'll deal with you and God'll
deal with me. And then there is this confession
then of original sin in verse five. Behold, I was shapen in
iniquity. and in sin did my mother conceive
me. It's that realisation that he
was born in sin, he was shapen in iniquity. I remember years ago reading
Stephen Sharnock, the Puritan, and having great knowledge of
the original languages and he said there that iniquity is a
reference to original sin that is within us. You see that's what it's referring
to, that original sin that is in our nature. See we have all
these different names for sin but they have a specific meaning
and apparently the specific meaning of iniquity it's referring to
that sin that dwells within us, within our very nature by nature,
by by nature, literally. It's how we're born. And this
is what David is confessing. He was brought to deeply feeling. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth
in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. Purge me. Why? Why did he say
this? Because he felt defiled. Have
you ever felt defiled with sin? One of the hymn writers says,
doesn't he, defiled I am indeed, defiled throughout by sin. And
the older we get, the more we feel it. That defilement of sin
in our very nature. When the, sometimes the corruptions
of our heart are stirred up within us, and we feel so defiled. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me. This is what he felt
a need. Is this what you feel to need?
Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall
be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. That's the gospel of the grace
of God that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. And he felt the need for the
Lord to hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquity. And feeling that depth of sin
and iniquity and corruption in his own heart. He says, creating
me a clean heart. He had a filthy heart, a corrupt
heart, a sinful nature. So he had that desire, created
me a clean heart, oh God, and renewed a right spirit within
me. He knew he hadn't got a right spirit. And he felt the need for the
Lord. David had known much blessing, much of the favor of the Lord,
yeah. And now because of his sin, he
felt so much of his iniquity, and the need and renew a right
spirit. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. See, to be washed. He'd known
the joy of God's salvation. He says in verse 12, restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. See, my beloved friends, He says
here, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. He felt the need of
the Holy Ghost. Take not thy Holy Spirit from
me. It's almost as if he was saying,
Lord, you would be just to do so, but he begs her not to do
so. Restore unto me the joy of thy
soul. You know that lovely word in
Psalm 130, but there is forgiveness with thee, that's God. But there
is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. David
says in that Psalm, out of the depths have I cried unto thee,
O God. Lord, hear my prayer, you know,
Friends, if there's anybody here and you say within yourself,
well, I would never do that. I would never do what David done.
I would never commit adultery. I would never kill somebody. I sincerely hope you don't do
either of those things, but you know, friends, you're capable
of it. You're well and truly capable of it. If a man so godly
and so gracious can sin like David did, then you and I very
much are very capable of falling into sin. And it's a weakness
within you if you don't think you are. There is that which
is within us which is self-righteous. I wouldn't do this, I wouldn't
do that, I wouldn't do something else. Wouldn't you? Don't you
know your own heart? Don't you know the corruptions
of your nature? Don't you know what you're capable
of? Oh, friends, when the Lord truly
teaches us, and shows us just how sinful our nature is, how
corrupt our nature is, how wretched our nature is... I've often told you, of the time
before I was brought into Gospel Liberty, And that deep conviction
of sin, that was long after Christ was first revealed to them. And
that word in Ezekiel, walked up and down in my very soul for
months. Turn again, O son of man, for
thou shalt see greater abominations than thee. And the Lord showed
me one day, as I was there about my work, showed me so clearly,
that all the sins that are in this world, all the immorality,
the unrighteousness, which rightly we rise up against and we say
well they're awful things, they're dreadful things, but the Lord
showed me all that sin was in my heart and I was capable of
committing all of it. And the seeds of it were in my
very soul. It was one line of a hymn. that
sealed that very teaching into my heart. Nor can I promise future
good to bring. I saw in a moment that I was
a sinner. I would always be a sinner. I would never get any better.
My old man, my old nature would always be corrupt and always
be unholy. And the only hope of any salvation
was in the finished work of Jesus Christ. in the precious blood
of Jesus Christ. Righteousness within thee rooted
may appear to take thy part, but let righteousness imputed,
that's the righteousness of Christ, be the breastplate of thy heart. That is where salvation is. And
that, in this inward teaching in the soul by the Holy Spirit,
that brings us convinced, it's a strong word, of our sin and
of our sinfulness. and a realization of what we're
capable of and it will horrify you when you realize what you're
capable of and how soon you can be just suddenly taken with the
temptation in a moment in a moment you see my beloved friends these
things are what the lord teaches us against thee 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. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit, as the Holy
Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. You see,
my beloved friends, Verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken, a contrite heart. Oh God, thou will not
despise. And when the Holy Spirit really,
truly convinces us of our sin, it will, by the Spirit's inward
power and teaching, it will break our heart. To this man will I look, to him
that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at
my word. The hymn writer says, sinners
can say, and none but they, how precious is the Saviour. How precious is the Saviour.
Why? Because they feel and know the defilement of sin, the corruption
of their nature, and they need Christ. And they say, give me
Christ or else I die. Oh, Lord Jesus, thou art my only
hope. Thou art all my desire. Thou
art the center, the sum and the substance of all my hopes and
all my desires. It's in Jesus Christ and it's
his precious blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanseth us from all sin, from all sin. I love that word,
all. It's so complete, isn't it? That
salvation that is in Jesus Christ. It's in his precious blood alone. What is that name that speaks
for me in heaven's high courts above and from the curse has
set me free? It is Jesus' precious blood. Oh, my beloved friends, that
when the Spirit truly convinces us of our sin and brings us into that complete
and open confession of our sin and gives us real repentance,
there's no doubt that David wept and wept many times over his
sin. And as the Lord said to him,
He'd done this before all Israel. And therefore, he said, I will
judge you before all Israel. And everybody could see the sword
did not depart from his house. And everybody knew it was because
of David's sin with Bathsheba. It was done openly so that everybody
could see. Why? Because David sinned so
openly so everybody could see. And he brought terrible damage
to the cause of God and truth. And if you sin and I sin, those
of us especially that are made a profession, we do terrible
damage to the Church of God by our sins and by our walk and
by our conduct. And if the Lord truly convinces
you, you'll know something of this language, hide thy face
from my sins and blot out all my iniquities, create in me a
clean heart, O God. and renew a right spirit within
me. He felt that need to be renewed. Cast me not away from thy presence
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. You see, how he knew
that he needed these things. What a great mercy, my beloved
friends, if we know our need, if we're truly convinced of our
sins, And we know and feel our need of the precious blood of
Christ. And we know and feel our need
of that glorious everlasting righteousness of Christ. Because
we have no righteousness of our own. Because we have a corrupt
and sinful nature. Well, my beloved friends, may
we know something of the experience of these things. Against thee,
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. May the Lord add his blessing. Let us now sing together hymn
number nine, 184. The tune is Grieves 342. Hark how the gospel trumpet sounds. Christ and free grace therein
abounds. Free grace to such a sinner's
be. And if free grace, why not for
me? Hymn 984. Tune Grieves Christ, the Lord is come. ? His perfect love. ? ? We praise you, Son of the
Savior. ? ? We praise you, Son of the
Savior. ? ? We praise you, Son of the
Savior. ? ? We praise you, Son of the
Savior. ? ? And every grace, and every grace
by naught for me. ? ? The Savior died,
and by His blood, ? O'er the land of the free and the home
of the brave? He died to set the captives free. He died to set the captives free. And why my soul? And why my soul? And why my soul? Why, my soul, why not glory? The blood of Christ is sweetest
flesh. Two hands that heal the sick
but one's broken. The streams whereof are rich
and free, and by my side And why my soul, and why my soul,
why not for Thee? Thus Jesus paid them all
to rest, Deep earth, then, in his righteousness fair, The road is spotless, firm and
free, and why, my soul, And why, my soul, and why, my
soul, I do not forgive? Eternal life, my Christ, is here,
I will regret those days. Then sing of grace so rich and
free. Then say, my soul, Now, may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the sacred fellowship
of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us each both now and
forever. Amen.