I want you to turn with me to
the book of Psalms, chapter 51. This is a very well-known Psalm. And in my Bible, I don't know
about yours, but there is a subtitle or a caption under the heading
of Psalm. It may be even in verse one. of your Bible, but it says to
the chief musician, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet
came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Now we know
what this is talking about. David took another man's wife. Her name was Bathsheba. And shortly
after that, David had her husband, whose name was Uriah, Uriah the
Hittite, a faithful man to the king. He had him killed when
he put him on the front lines of what the scripture describes
as the hottest battle against the enemy. And this is what prompted
God to send Nathan unto David. Now, put your marker here in
Psalm 51 and turn back to 2 Samuel chapter 12. I want to show you
a few verses here in 2 Samuel chapter 12. Verse 1 tells us, and the Lord
sent Nathan unto David. Who sent Nathan unto David? The
Lord did. The Lord did. And he came unto
him and he said unto him, and I want you to notice first that
Nathan didn't waste any time. No time at all. He got straight
to the point. And Nathan here tells David a
story. He says in verse one, there were
two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. And the rich man had exceeding
many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one
little ewe lamb, one little female lamb, which he had bought and
nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his
children, and 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."
Now that doesn't sound at all strange to me. I've got a little
fuzzy thing at home that's kind of like unto me a daughter. Sometimes
I'm a little embarrassed about how I carry on over that little
dog, but I love her nonetheless. She's my little fuzzy daughter. Verse four, and there came a
traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own
flock. Now remember, he's got all kinds
of herds of sheep. And he spared to take of his
own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man
that was coming to him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed
it for the man that was come to him. How terrible. And this got to David. Look at
verse 5. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man.
And 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 Nathan said to David, Thou
art the man. My, can you imagine? The Lord
went on to say, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed
thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul.
And I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives
unto thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that had been too little,
I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore
hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord? Now notice this,
to do evil in his sight. Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite
with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and
hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now
therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house, because
thou hast despised me. Not Uriah the Hittite. You despised me. and has taken
the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the
Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine
own house, and I'll take thy wives before thine eyes and give
them unto thy neighbor. And he shall lie with thy wives
in the sight of this son, for thou didst it secretly, but I
will do this thing before all Israel and before the son. And David said unto Nathan, I
have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the
Lord also hath put away thy sin. Now, this is when David wrote
Psalm 51. So turn back there with me. As
I said in the beginning, David wrote this Psalm. It's a Psalm
of David when Nathan the prophet came unto him. after he had gone
into Bathsheba. Now I would have you notice here
the first words of this psalm. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. What are the first words out
of David's mouth? A request for the mercy of God. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. Now David understands that what
he needs more than anything in this world is the mercy of God. Has God shown you that concerning
yourself? Who gives this mercy? Have mercy
upon me, O God. It's God that gives us mercy.
Only God can give this mercy. Only God can grant this forgiveness. Why? Because our sin is against
Him. We read it there in 2 Samuel.
He said, you've done this against Me. Every child of God will learn
that all their sin is ultimately against God. It's all a transgression
against God's command for us to be holy as He is holy. Anything less than perfection
is a transgression against God. Did you know that? It's true. God said that anything and everything
must be perfect in order for God to accept it. Anything less
than God's standard of perfection is sin against Him. David knew
this. David knew that he had sinned
against God. God had given him everything a man could desire
and David wasn't satisfied. Let's just get down to the heart
of the matter. That's what it was. David walked out on his
temple's deck or whatever it was that night and saw her bathing
and he said, I want her. And he took her. He was the king.
He could do what he wanted. David wasn't satisfied. He wasn't
content. David wanted more, and he sinned
against God in order to get it. And the verdict against him was,
thou art the man. You're the man. You're the guilty
one. And David says, have mercy upon
me, O God. Now that's not all he says. Look
here. He said, according. Now that word means in relation
to. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
or in relation to your loving kindness. God can only show loving
kindness one way, friends, and that's in Christ. Mercy is not
given according to human merit. purchase, earn, nor do we deserve
the mercy and grace of God. David didn't want justice. I can assure you of that. You
know what? I don't either. Not when it comes to God. David wanted mercy. David wanted
the mercy of God to be according or in relation to God the Father's
love for Christ, His Son. We want justice when we've been
sinned against. But we sure don't want justice
against our sin. David wanted the mercy of God
to be according or in relation to the multitude of God's tender
mercies. Now doesn't that tell you something?
God has a multitude of tender mercies in Christ. Don't leave that out. It's found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. God is plenteous in mercy when
it comes to his son. David wanted God and mercy to
blot out all his transgressions, verse 1, for Christ's sake. David said, don't give me justice,
give me mercy. That's a frequent prayer of mine. Lord, don't give me what I deserve.
Oh, I know what I deserve. Don't give me that, but give
me mercy. You know, when I hear folks say
things like, well, I just want what's coming to me. Oh, I just
shiver and shake and say, oh, no, you don't. You don't want
what's coming to you. Not when it comes to the justice
of God, you don't. I don't want the wrath, the judgment,
and the justice of God. That's what I deserve. The soul
that sins, it shall die. Death is what I deserve. I deserve
eternal condemnation, eternal judgment. I don't want what I
deserve. Is there a way I can escape that?
I'm glad you asked. Only in, by, and through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy is what David pleaded.
I think we see that right off the bat, don't we? And mercy
is what I must constantly plead. And I'm telling you, friends,
if you ever see your sin, so will you. So will you. If God makes you truly sorry
for your sin, if God makes you truly repentant, if God makes
you feel your guilt like David did here, then you'll ask, beg
for mercy. And you know what, if God grant
me mercy, I know it's not according to my works. I know that it's
not according to any merit in me, and it's not by any righteousness
of my own, for I have none. All the righteousness that I
have is nothing more than what? Filthy rags, filthy rags. If God grant me mercy, it'll
be by mercy. that he grants it in Christ alone.
Have mercy upon me, O God. He's the only one who can have
mercy. God is the only one who can forgive sin. God is the only
one that can blot out our sin. Do you know why? Again, because
all sin is against him and him alone. Look at verse two. David said, wash me thoroughly. That word simply means thoroughly.
Wash me totally and completely. Wash me thoroughly and perfectly. Wash me meticulously and carefully. Lord, please make sure you get
it all. You know, He always does. Most
of you know that, as we mentioned earlier, Chris Cothran They thought
he had cancer. That's what the first report
was in his thyroid. And this past Thursday, the surgeons,
they meticulously, carefully, painstakingly, and thoroughly
did the best to get all of what they thought to be cancer. And
that's what David's saying here. Lord, please get it all. Wash
me thoroughly. Wash me from what? My iniquity. My sin. Cleanse me from my sin. And you know, I love the fact
that God is a holy God. I know that God's a holy God.
And I'm glad that He is. Why? Because He is the only one
who can make me holy. And I know that God is a God
of justice. I love the justice of God. And I'm glad that He's a God
of justice. Why? Because He's the only one who
could die the just for the unjust to bring us to God. But both
His holiness and His justice work against me if I'm not a
recipient of His mercy. Now you think about that. I want
nothing to do with the holiness and the justice of God apart
from divine mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ, and neither do
you. And David here bases his whole
plea upon the mercy of God. That Pharisee that went up into
the temple to pray, He boasted of his religious works, his deeds,
his accomplishments. He didn't thank God for his mercy
and grace. You know why? Because it was
apparent he didn't receive any. He thanked God that he wasn't
like other men. He thanked God that he made himself
to differ. And he prayed, I'm not an extortioner.
I'm not greedy. I'm not covetous. I'm not materialistic. He said, I'm not unjust. I'm not unrighteous. I'm not
wicked. I'm not an adulterer. And that
word means apostate. You can be an adulterer both
physically and spiritually. It simply means a defector, a
traitor in one's physical marriage, or it means the same, a defector
and a traitor in one's spiritual union with Christ. You can be
an adulterer in more than one way. He said, I thank you that I'm
not like other men, even like this publican. He didn't say anything at all
about lying though, did he? Because he certainly was doing
that. He was lying to himself and he was lying to God. But
that publican, he wouldn't so much as even lift his eyes to
heaven because of his shame. He smote his breast as to point
to the real problem. I've got a heart problem. I need a new heart. And what
did he say? Lord, be merciful. To me, THE
sinner. So, the first thing a saved sinner
does is to throw himself upon the mercy of God. Do you see
that? And the second thing the child
of God does is to acknowledge and confess their sin. Look at
verse 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin, my iniquity, and my sin
is ever before me. O child of God, O sinner, acknowledge
and confess your sin to God. David said, I acknowledge my
transgression, my sin is ever before me. David comes to the
Lord and he says, have mercy on me, not justice, but mercy. And that mercy is found in Christ
alone. Lord, I acknowledge my transgressions. Now, the word acknowledge here
means much more than just to be aware. It means much more. When David says, I acknowledge
my transgressions, it means much more than he's just aware of
his sin. That word acknowledge means to
know. David knew that he was a sinner. It means to know that I am sin. Sin is what I am. It means to
recognize that within me dwells no good thing. Nothing that would
commend me to God. Nothing that would cause God
to be mindful of me in any way. Now that's what this Bible teaches,
friends. This is a confession of our sin.
David said, I acknowledge my sin. I know that sin is what
I am. I see that I need mercy. My sin
is ever or always before me. I feel it. I see it. It's always
there. David is saying my guilt is always
in my thoughts. I feel the guilt of my sin. My
sin is always conscious to me. The seriousness of it, the evil
of it, so conscious of it. The guilt of it's always before
me. I can't stop thinking about it. It lays heavy upon my heart. But hear me on this, you'll never
ever truly see the true evil of your sin until you see who
it's against. Verse four, against thee and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Now,
David is saying here, Lord, I've offended you. He knew that he
had offended the Lord. What he's saying here is all
my sin is against you. This very thing of taking Bathsheba
and doing away with her husband, That was a sin against you. The
offended one is God, friends, and the offender is you and I. And the sooner we come to grasp
with that, the better off we are. We're the one who needs
mercy. Have mercy upon me, O God. According
not to anything in me, but according to Thy tender mercies in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And did you notice here that
David doesn't call this a mistake? Well, we can excuse saying, well,
I made a mistake. He calls it what it is. He said
it's evil. Evil. Boy, that's a strong word.
Sin is evil. It's man's desire to dethrone
God. That's really what it comes down
to. Every sinner wants the honor and the glory and the credit
for their own salvation. Why did God love Jacob? I've been thinking about this
so much lately. Why did God hate Esau? Why did
God harden Pharaoh's heart? To show his purpose, his power,
and his glory in them. that the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand not of works, but of Him that calleth. Salvation is of the Lord. Did Jonah just come to that conclusion
one day? No. No, he spent three days and
three nights in the whale's belly. And when the Lord spit him up
on dry ground, that's the first words out of his mouth. Salvation
is of the Lord. This is the Lord's doing. This
is the Lord's doing. Do you know how I know that?
Well, in the case of Romans 9, it has to do with the word before. Before the foundation of the
world, God chose His elect. Before the chosen sinner was
born, before they had done any good or evil, before they could
take any credit themselves for their salvation, God loved and
He chose some, and God hated and passed by others. That's
not the God you hear preached much in churches today. He's a God that loves everybody.
He's a Christ that died for everyone. But will there be any in hell
for whom Christ died? How can it be? To prove the point that man has
no choice, no will, no ability to merit salvation, God did it
before they could. And God gets all the glory. Christ
said, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you. and I've ordained
you. And because of this, God's people
are enabled by God to confess, I've done evil. I've done this
evil in your sight, dear Lord. You see, God sees and God knows,
and the sinner is also made to see and to know that it's so. I did the sinning. No one made
me do it. God did the saving. and no one
made him do it. I confess my sin, Lord, my sin
is against you, all of it. I've done evil against you, even
in your sight. Look at the rest of verse four
here. That thou mightest be justified when you speak, and be clear
when thou judgest. Lord, that you might prove yourself
to be right when you speak concerning me. that you might be clear of
any wrongdoing against me, justified in your own actions to judge
and condemn me. Clear of any wrongdoing when
you judge me guilty. There'll be no argument for me.
That's what David's saying. No argument for me. I am guilty. All my sin is against you. I
know and I see what I am. And I deserve everything that
I should get. You know, every true believer
justifies God and His condemnation of their sin. We say it this
way. We take sides with God against
ourselves. That's just justifying God's
right to judge us. It wasn't so with Adam though,
was it? Adam blamed his sin on the woman. It wasn't so with
Eve. She blamed her sin upon the serpent. That's not justifying
God. That's blaming God. What did
the saved sinner on the cross say to the unsaved one on Christ's
other side? You remember. First he said,
don't you fear God? Being in the same condemnation,
you and I indeed justly, we deserve what we're getting. This man done nothing wrong.
He doesn't deserve this. Then he turned to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, I tell you, I just love to
think about this. He turned to the Lord Jesus Christ
and he said, remember me. when you come into your kingdom.
That's the same thing as saying, remember me in mercy. That's
what Habakkuk said. He said, Lord, in wrath, remember
mercy. You know, that thief acknowledged
his sin just as David did. He confessed his sin. He took
all the blame. He knew that he was justly receiving
what he deserved. And friends, by God's grace,
I've been taught the same thing. But I don't want what I deserve.
I want mercy. Just the opposite of what I deserve. But if God condemns us, He's
doing just what He ought to do. We deserve to be condemned. But
I'm not asking for justice. I'm asking for mercy. I don't
want it. I don't want what I deserve. I want what I don't deserve.
I want mercy, grace, and forgiveness. So is there any way I can get
it? Again, I'm glad that you asked.
Let me first, though, give you the root of the problem as David
gives it to us. Look at verse five. David said,
behold, I was shapen in iniquity. And in sin did my mother conceive
me. My sin is the cause of me being
a sinner. I was shaped and conceived in
sin. I came forth from the womb speaking
lies. Why? Because sin is what I am. Not just what I do, but what
I am. You and I were born condemned. Sin is what I was born in. And
a man is not a thief because he steals. A man steals because
he's a thief. I heard Brother Mahan once say
that every sin that a sinner commits with their hands, with
their feet, with their mouth, with their body, was planned
in their heart. Planned in the sense that it
came from here, from within. And this is the root of my problem. I was shaped in iniquity, and
I was conceived in sin. My mother was a sinner. My father
was a sinner. So guess what? I'm a sinner. I have five children, and I have
four grandchildren, and I love them all dearly. But I'm telling
you the honest truth. None of them had to be taught
to be selfish. They're selfish by nature, just
like their daddy. You don't have to teach a child
to be greedy. They're greedy by nature. One
of the first words I heard from my children was mine. And I'm
telling you, it didn't matter if it was an empty box that the
toy came in. If another one grabbed it, that's
mine. You don't have to teach someone
to be hateful. You've got to teach somebody to love. You don't
have to teach someone to be greedy, you've got to teach them to be
generous. You don't have to teach goodness, but evil comes naturally. You have to teach goodness, I
meant, but evil comes naturally. Why is that? Because we're all
evil by nature. Out of the heart proceeds an
evil list of things. evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, lying on others, lying on God,
blasphemies. It all starts and it proceeds
from here, within, out of the heart. We're not good by nature. That's what most folks think.
Well, men are basically born good and then something happens
and they... No. No, no, no. You get the cart
before the horse. We're not good by nature. We're
evil by nature. What is our heart, Jeremiah?
Jeremiah says it's two things. It's deceitful above all things.
Our hearts are fraudulent, crooked, and polluted. That's what the
word deceitful means. Our hearts are deceitful above
all things, above all things, more deceitful. Secondly, it's
desperately wicked. And that word desperately means
incurable. Incurably wicked, dreadful, depressing,
disgraceful, deplorable, shameful, hopeless, helpless, desperate. In other words, the things that
I say, the things that I do, the things that I think are motivated
by the person that I am. I am sin, and I'm desperately
wicked. How thankful we should be for
the mercy and the grace of God to us. And look at verse 6. It says, behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward parts. And in the hidden part, thou
shalt make me to know wisdom." Now David pleads with God here
upon the grounds of His goodness, upon the grounds of His truth,
and upon the grounds of His wisdom. God desires that we have truth
in our inward parts. Now, the truth is the Word of
God. No doubt about it. And the truth
is Christ. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. And he said, no man comes to
the Father but by me. And in the hidden part, thou
shalt make me to know wisdom. Christ is our wisdom. He's made
unto us what? Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1.30. And do you see what the
Holy Spirit is telling us here through David? The believer will
have Christ, the truth, in their hearts. Just a fact. That's the one thing that makes
us to differ. The believer will have Christ,
the wisdom of God, in their inward parts, in their inward man. And we have such a union. That's a word you've heard me
say a lot lately. What a union it is. What a oneness
the child of God has with Christ as He dwells in our hearts, in
our Edward parts. And if you think about it, it
will bless you. If Christ is one with us, and
He is. And if Christ is one with the
Father, and He is. He said so Himself. Then we are
also one with God. One with God. Now I asked you
a minute or two ago, if there is any way you and I, the hell-deserving,
wretched sinners we are, how can we receive the undeserving
mercy, grace, and forgiveness of God that we need and must
have? Well, it's called the Gospel.
The Gospel. Good news. Look at verse 7. David
said, Purge me with hyssop. and I shall be clean. Wash me,
and I shall be whiter than snow. This is speaking of the atonement. Hyssop was a plant in the Old
Testament which was used to dip in the blood when they brought
the lamb, killed the lamb, and put its blood in a basin. They
took that hyssop and kind of made like a paintbrush out of
it, and they purified and sanctified everything by the blood. When
the Israelites marked their doorposts with the Lamb's blood in order
for the angel of death to pass over them, God instructed them
to use a hyssop as a paintbrush, so to speak. Now what David is
asking here though is this. He's saying, cleanse me. Wash
me. Spiritually, as he confesses
his sin. Purge me with hyssop. Make me
pure. Cleanse and remove my sin. Lord,
if you purge me, look at the certainty of this, I shall be
clean. No doubt about it. If you purge
me, I shall be pure. Lord, if you wash me, I shall
be whiter than snow. Do you see the certainty in this?
I shall be clean. I shall be whiter than snow.
And that word clean here means uncontaminated. We are contaminated
with sin by nature, but God cleanses us. And the word whiter here
means to become white. If God cleanses me, I become
whiter than white snow. Whiter than snow. In verse eight, what a blessing
this is. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Have you heard joy and gladness?
I mean, have you really heard it? He said that the bones which
thou hast broken may rejoice. Again, David appeals to God according
to God's gospel. He says, make me to hear joy
and make me to hear gladness. Both words, joy and gladness,
picture the gospel. The gospel is good tidings of
what? Great joy. The gospel is glad
tidings of good things. He's talking about the gospel
here. David is saying, make me to hear the gospel. Oh, what
a prayer. That's my prayer for all here
this morning. Lord, make us all to hear your gospel. Effectually
hear it. Really hear it. Not just with
physical ears, but with spiritual ears. Make me to hear it, Lord. That the bones which thou hast
broken may rejoice. Now that's a symbolic statement.
Our bones have been broken by the weight of sin. Rejoice in
the Gospel, God says. And that word rejoice in this
verse means free from suffering. Though we have been broken by
sin, in Christ we are now free from the suffering of sin. How
do I know the scripture saying God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes? And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.
For the former things are passed away. These are the desires of the
repentant children of God. In verse nine, hide thy face
from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Now listen,
this is real important. David said here, hide thy face
from my sins. But God can't do that. God can't
do that. Why? Because he's too holy and
too just to do so. He will by no means clear the
guilty. Why? He's too holy. His justice will
not allow Him to hide His face from sin. It's got to be dealt
with. So what does He do? He puts it
away. He blots out all our iniquities.
Matter of fact, the only way God can hide His face from our
sins is to blot them out. God cannot deal injustice with
what is not there. Let me say that again. God cannot
deal injustice with sin that's been put away. That's gone. You know what that means? That
means if you're trusting in Christ and Him alone, you have no sin. You have no sin. By putting our sin on Christ,
by Christ paying our sin debt, by a perfect work of His righteousness,
God's justice punished Christ for our sin. And Christ keeping
God's law perfectly put away our sin. And then God in mercy
awards us, though we didn't deserve it, that's what mercy is. But
God awards us with Christ's perfect righteousness and God is enabled
to be just and still justify you and I, the ungodly. Only God, I'm telling you, only
God could devise a way as this to redeem fallen man, and at
the same time glorify His own great name, and He remains a
just God and a Savior. It's the most amazing story I've
ever heard, and it's called God's Gospel. In Christ, God justifies the
sinner without compromising his justice. And all the while, he
remains just. I heard someone say again recently
that someone had claimed that they'd given their heart to Jesus.
God doesn't want your deceitful and desperately wicked heart.
You know, God doesn't do trade-in on hearts. God doesn't reform
hearts. God doesn't rebuild hearts. You
take your carburetor in and get it rebuilt, but not your heart.
God doesn't remodel hearts. We remodel homes, but not our
hearts. But for some, God creates a new
heart within them. That's David's desire. Look at
verse 10 and I'll finish. Create in me. You see, only the
Creator can create. Create in me a clean, a pure
heart. Oh God! David knows who the Creator
is. Oh God! And renew a right or
a righteous spirit within me. That's the only way any sinner
can be saved. You know, David has told us here at least five
things in how a sinner can be saved.
Let me give them to you quickly in finishing. First, to receive
the mercy of God. Have mercy upon me, oh God. According
to your loving kindness and your tender mercies in Christ, blot
out my sin. Secondly, to confess our sins
openly and honestly before God. Lord, I acknowledge my sin. Sin
is what I am. Have mercy on me. Thirdly, to
face, acknowledge, to know, and to see that the root of the problem
of the whole matter is in here. It's in the heart. Give me a
new heart, Lord. Fourthly, it's to look to the
cross where the blood of Christ was shed to cleanse us from all
our unrighteousness. created me a clean, pure heart. That's exactly what Christ has
done for us. And fifthly, it's to cast ourselves
on the purpose and the power of God, trusting in Him alone
to make us a new creature, a new creation, to create within us
a new heart that beats and pants after God Almighty. Lord, please have mercy on us
according to your loving kindness and according to the multitude
of your tender mercies. And you know what I have found
out? If you ask him to, he always will. He always does.