Turn to Psalm 51 for me. It's a real pleasure to be with
you. I bring with me a lot of thoughts and prayers from the
church in Lexington. Everybody thinks about you a
lot, prays for you a lot. I'm very excited about what the
Lord is doing here. Psalm 51, we're going to read
the whole psalm. David says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness. According unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me truly
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 shaped 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 will 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 my iniquities. 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,
that wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure
and design, build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou
be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt
offering and whole burnt offering. Then shalt thou offer bullocks
before non-offering. It was the time of year when
kings went off to war. They went off to battle. And
the king would go with his army to lead his men, to encourage
his men, and to guide them along the way. But this story begins
with King David, the man after God's own heart, shirking his
responsibility and not going with his men off to battle. He
sends Joab to be the captain over his army. He sends them
off. And you can speculate all you want about why David did
this. Maybe he's bored. He just lost all interest in
conquest. It doesn't interest me anymore. I'll move on to something
else. I'll send Joab to be the captain.
Perhaps he just had enough of fighting. He said, listen, I've
done my part. I slew Goliath. I've met on many
conquests for the Lord's sake. Let somebody else do it for a
while. I'm going to send Joab. But this story begins with David
shirking his responsibility and not doing what he's supposed
to be doing. And as he's back at his palace,
he's walking along the rooftop and he looks over in the way
and he sees a woman. She's a very pretty woman. Her name's Bathsheba,
the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David's mighty men. She's
bathing and she's very pretty. David sends his messengers, go
over there, take her, bring her to me. And David commits adultery
with her. He is the man after God's own heart. And David commits
adultery with this woman. A little while later, Bathsheba
comes back, sends a message to David. She says, I'm pregnant
with a child. I'm going to have a baby. The baby's yours. You know what he's thinking at
this point? He has no godly sorrow over this. He's not in a repentant
state. He says, I'm not going to be exposed. I can't be exposed. I got to make this go away. He
does what comes natural to us when we sin. I'm going to cover
it up. I'm going to hide it. I'm going to put it away. So
David devises his plan. His plan is pretty simple. He
sends a letter out to Joab and says, send me back Uriah. And
here's his plan. He's going to have Uriah come
back. Uriah will get a couple of days to R&R with his wife.
He'll go into his wife. The timeline for the pregnancy
will work out. Uriah will think it's his kid. David, problem
solved. Problem solved. We got this worked out. That's
not how things go. In a worldly sense, as far as
men go, Uriah is actually an honorable man. Then he comes
back. David says, go back, be with your wife. Uriah says, the
ark is dwelling in a tent. Joab and all the men, they're
out there fighting. I can't, I can't go be with my wife. I can't enjoy
the comforts of my home. That's not right. I can't go. And so
David says, okay, let's try something else. He gets him drunk. Gets
your eye drunk. This is the man after God's own
heart. He gets your eye drunk. Now he'll
go into his wife. He still won't do it. Your eye spends the night
in the servants quarters. And I know exactly what David's
thinking at this point. Because I've been in this state
time and time again, more times than I ever wish to share with
you. He said, I tried to be nice. I tried to make this whole thing
go away quietly. But I'm not going to be exposed. I'm not
going to be exposed. He hands a letter to Uriah. A
letter to Uriah. Now, here's what's interesting
is he is so convinced, in a worldly sense, of the honorable character
of Uriah. He doesn't even send this letter
with a third party. He sends it with Uriah. He's confident
Uriah won't look at this letter. And it's addressed to Joab, and
here's what it says. I'll read it to you. Set ye Uriah
in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him,
that he may be smitten and die." David, the man after God's own
heart, commits murder. And I think sometimes we'll gloss
over how terrible a death this was for Uriah. Think about Uriah.
He clearly, he loved those men he served with. He ate with them,
he lived with them, he fought next to them. He was comforted
by them. Okay, we're going to go out to battle. We're going
to rise, we're going to fall. We may live, we may die. That's
in the Lord's hands. We're going to do it together. I got the guy
on my left and I got the guy on my right. He loved those men. In
his last moments, when things were as bad as they have ever
been, in the heat of the hottest battle, right before this man
is violently cleaved and bludgeoned to death, the last thing he sees
is his friends, whom he loved, that were such a comfort to him,
withdrawing from him, deserting him when they needed him the
most. That's a terrible death. That's
a terrible death. the man after God's own heart.
He did this. Folks, here's the thing. Could
a believer do this? Absolutely. And here's the thing, folks.
If we have recognized that we've done this, we've done this in
our heart. If we haven't acted out on it
in an outward sense, it's for one reason, restraining grace.
The potential is there. But we've all done this, at least in our
hearts. We're just as guilty as David. We're just that far,
just that close. The Lord takes his hands off
of us for one second, we'll fall into the same sin. This is the
man after God's own heart. And David remains in this unrepentant
and cold-hearted state for close to a year, as long as it takes
for the baby to be born. But the Lord is merciful to David,
just like he's been merciful to us. And he comes to David
where he's at, in this cold, hard-hearted, repentant state,
to the prophet Nathan. And here's what Nathan has to
say to David. He says, King, let me tell you a story. All right.
There's two men. There's one man. He's a rich
man. And he's got many flocks and many herds. He's got many
of everything. And there's a poor man. And all he has is one little
lamb. That's it. He loves that little lamb like
his own daughter. And this rich man had a visitor. And he didn't
want to kill one of his sheep to dress for the visitor. So
he goes and he takes that poor man's lamb, that lamb he loved
like his own daughter. And he kills that lamb and dresses
it for his visitor. King, what do you think about that? And
David, in complete hypocrisy, he can see the sin in others,
he can't see it in himself. He says, as long as the Lord lives,
that man is going to die. And Nathan says, you're the man.
You're the man. And the Lord used that to break
David's heart. And David comes into a repentant
and broken state, a broken hearted state right here. And the very
next thing he does, he pens Psalm 51. This is David's cry. This is David's petition. That's
what I see here. This is a petition. Now, what's a petition? A petition
is you want something, or in this case, you desperately need
something. And you list what you need and all the compelling
reasons you should have it. This is David's petition, but
this is the petition of every believer. This is the petition
of a man whom the Lord has saved. Now, every petition begins just
about the same way. It begins with a statement of
what you need. What you're looking for, what you're petitioning
for. Go back and look at verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God. What is David's petition? What
is he petitioning for? Mercy. Now, here's what's interesting
about this word. This word here that is translated
mercy, it is not the word that is generally translated mercy.
It's a different word. Now, it includes the general
term, which is, Lord, don't give me what I rightfully deserve.
That's included here. But this word, it actually means
just a little bit more. It's a big word. It's a small
word that has a whole lot of meaning. Let me give you Strong's
definition for this. He said this word means the superior
or the greater one, the one on top. Stooping down in kindness,
to the inferior, the one on bottom. And that's a little word with
a whole lot of meaning. And if we understand that meaning, we
can understand what David is petitioning for. He's saying some things
here by using this word. Here's a few things he's saying.
Number one, David is confessing that he is in the hands of the
superior, the sovereign. Lord, I'm in your hands. Everyone's
in his hands. You can do whatever you want
with me. You can kill me. You can keep me as king over
Israel. You can put me down in a dungeon. You can save me. You
can damn me. You can do anything you want
with me. You have that power. All according to your will. And
I've got nothing to say to it. It's right, just, and fair. Whatever
you do. Simply because of who you are.
You're the superior. He knew he was in the hands of
a sovereign. And you and I sit in the hands of a sovereign God.
David confessed that he needed kindness. And that unmerited. Unmerited. kindness from God
in that unmerited. Why? Because he knew he was guilty. Guilty. Now, look back here at
verse 4. David says, There are two types
of men in this world. Only two. There are those who
justify God and those who judge God. Those who judge the Lord. You don't love everybody? It's not fair. Christ didn't
die for everybody. That's not fair. You say I'm
a sinner. I'm not that bad. I sit in judgment
of the Lord. And there's men who justify the
Lord. Whatever you say about me, that's
right. Whatever claim you have against
me, that's true. I'm guilty. I've got no claims
on God. David knew that. David knew that
kindness could rightfully be withheld. You can come, and you
can show kindness, you can show favor to everyone here, everyone
on the face of the earth, all through the generations, and
pass me by, and you are right, and you are just, and you are
fair, because I'm guilty. Guilty as charged. It's all my
fault. David confessed that he was the
inferior. He was the one on bottom. David confessed that the Lord
was the superior. He was the one on top. And David knew that he
couldn't get to the Lord, and he couldn't influence Him in
any way. The Lord had to stoop down. Come down and meet David. Meet me. where I'm at. Down at the bottom. That's a
little word. That's got a whole lot of meaning.
Now, David's petition is going to continue and he's going to
tell the truth of the matter. The truth of the matter. Now
I'm going to ask this question. In a sense, every man that ever
lived is going to submit a petition to the Lord. He's going to petition
for what he wants and he's going to list the compelling reasons
why he should have it. The natural man's petition, or
the natural religious man's petition, how does that read? When he petitions
for the kindness and the favor of God, what does he say? Show
me kindness, show me favor, because I did all these great things.
I did all those great things, and I abstain from doing all
these things. And if nothing else, look at that guy over there.
I am way better by comparison. I'm way better than that guy
over there. Show me kindness. Show me favor because I, and
you fill in the blank with whatever you want there. I invoked my
free will. I did a good work. One day I had this great experience. I had an appropriate emotion.
I know all my doctrine. I've got it all set down. I know
enough. Show me favor. Show me kindness because I, and
you fill in the blank with whatever you want there. That's salvation
by works. That's a natural man's petition. How does the Lord feel
about a petition to read that way? Look at verse 6. David says, Behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward parts. Now, here's the first way that's
interpreted. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh to the Father except
by me. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ in you, the hope
of glory. That's the first application
here. We can take that and read that right on the surface. Thou
desirest truth. And he just doesn't desire it,
he demands it. He demands it. You know what
that means? It means the Lord hates hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. What's hypocrisy?
It's acting. It's pretending. It's lying. He hates that. He
absolutely hates hypocrisy. He demands the truth. The truth. Now, let me give you a scripture
here. Turn over to 1 John 1 and look at verse 8. Key in on that word, the truth.
Thou desirest truth. 1 John 1 verse 8, And if we say
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us. Now what is that saying? Is that
saying a man's talking about, I have absolutely no sin, I'm
pure heart, I've never sinned, I've never done anything wrong,
I've never had a sinful thought, never committed a sinful action?
No, it's just saying, if we say we've done anything but sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But look
at verse 9. If we confess our sins, listen to this. Take this
right on the surface here. He is faithful. He always does
this. And just, it's absolutely right for him to do this. To
forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God desires truth. And David
knew that, didn't he? The Lord hates acting. He hates
hypocrisy. He desires truth. And David's
going to tell the truth. He's not going to hold anything
back. He's not going to sugarcoat anything. He's going to tell
the truth about his depraved state. He's going to bring it
all before the Lord. He's going to use chiefly three words to
do it. Go back to your text in Psalm 51. This is David's truth concerning
himself. Look at the last four words of verse one. David says,
blot out my transgressions. That's the first word he uses
to describe his depraved state, transgressions. Verse two, wash
me throughly from mine Iniquity. That's the second word he uses.
And cleanse me from my sin. David uses three words here to
describe his depraved state. And this is not redundancy. This
is not David just coming up with random words to describe being
a sinner. All these words mean something.
And they have a special meaning. I'll share with you. This word
transgressions, what that means is rebellion. Rebellion and this
is what they was talking about in verse 4 when he says against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done This evil in my sight
how David had dealt with with your eye and with that she but
he was evil. He was wicked It was wrong, but here's the greater
issue when we sin when I sin, which is all I do What I'm doing
is I am shaking my fist in the face of the Lord saying I'm gonna
do what I want to do. I Know your law. I know your holy law.
It's written on my heart But I'm gonna do what I want to do.
We're rebels by nature Rebels against the Lord. That's our
nature. Rebellious. The second word he uses is iniquity. And that word is perversity,
crookedness, or twisted. Twisted. And I like that definition
because of this. That word iniquity when it's used in Scripture is
normally referring to a man's self-righteousness. What's that? It's those things
we take pride in. Look at this. I've read my Bible every day
this week. Look at that. I'm on the straight and narrow.
I'm there. Look at that. I gave a little
more this month. The Lord's pleased with that. I'm getting there.
I'm getting there. I visited my friend in the hospital.
Lord, look at that. Lord is really working in my
life. Standing back and taking pride
in those things. These things, and this is where twisted, this
is where it applies. This is what we do. We take something
that is evil and wicked and only adds to our condemnation and
we twist it. We try to put a good spin on
it and present it as something the Lord could find favor with.
It's twisted, taking the facts and twisting them. It's all sin,
that's all we do. And then sin, the last word he
used, sin, and that means missing the mark. Folks, what's the mark?
It's holiness. It's the very nature of God himself,
unfathomable perfection. Here's what this is saying, missing
the mark. It's not that, okay, the mark, the target is that
way, right? And I'm shooting at the target. It's not that,
well, I'm shooting at it, and, you know, I'm shooting just off
to the right, and if I apply some fundamentals and straighten
up my game, I'll probably start hitting that target. You know,
we're always getting a little bit better. No, no, I missed the mark. The mark
is holiness. I'm always shooting in that direction, right behind
me. I'm shooting the opposite direction because I am the opposite.
I'm unholy. That's missing the mark. Three
words. Rebels. Rebellion. An open rebellion
against God. Iniquity. Self-righteous. Twisting.
Twisting the facts. And then sin. Completely missed
the mark. Shoot in the opposite direction. Unhold it. Now, David
gets to the root of the problem here. Look at verse 5. David
says, Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and sin did my mother
conceive me. David's saying, this sin problem,
this is not a behavior problem. This is a heart problem. This
is a nature problem. This is the way I was born. I was born in this world, dead
in trespasses and sins. And yes, yes, the river is black. Everything that comes to me is
sin. It's all tainted with sin. But for one reason, because the
fountain's black. The heart's black. The heart's no good. I
need a new heart. David says this in verse 1. He's
making his petition to the Lord. And he doesn't say, Lord, because
I've done this, because I've done that. But here's what he
does say. He says, according to thy lovingkindness, according
unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. Lord, if you're looking
for a reason in me to find mercy on me, you're not going to find
it. But I'm going to appeal to your character, that you're rich
in mercy and that you enjoy showing it. Now, here's the question. Is the Lord willing to show mercy
to a man like this? A man who is nothing but transgressions,
and iniquity, and sin, and nothing more. David's very descriptive
here, and I appreciate that because I fit that mold. That's me. That's
me. Transgression, iniquity, and
sin. I've got nothing else. That's it. That's me. Now, the
question is, is the Lord willing to save that man? Is the Lord
willing to show mercy to that man? And I need that to be detailed
and descriptive because David is so descriptive here. Let me
show you. Turn to Exodus 34. Look at verse 6. I want to remind
you of the three words David used to describe his depraved
state. Iniquity, transgression, and sin. Three very distinct
words. Exodus 34 and look at verse 6. And the Lord passed by before
him, and speaking to Moses, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands. Pay very close attention to these
next words. Forgiving, iniquity and transgression and sin. And that will by no means clearly
guilty. The same three words David used to describe himself.
That's who the Lord forgives. The man who has nothing but transgressions
and iniquity and sin. If you don't fit that mold, you
need not apply because that's the only man who gets mercy.
That's good news for me because I fit that mold and nothing else,
nothing but transgressions and iniquity and sin. And that's
who the Lord will have mercy on. and no one else. Now, David's going
to continue his petition. What must be done for David?
Verse 1 says, blot out my transgressions. That's what must be done for
him. Now, the idea of blotting out, it's speaking of a debt
that's recorded in a book. And I'll give you the 21st century
example is, anybody ever get themselves a credit card debt?
It's a terrible thing. You're spending money you don't
have in the first place. And you're charging, you're charging,
you're charging. And then every month the interest hits. Right?
It's a high interest. So the debt grows and grows and
grows. And you can't pay off the debt. You didn't have the
money in the first place. That's why you're borrowing on the credit card. And the debt
grows and grows and grows. And you can never pay it off.
So David's saying, my sin debt, every day, it just grows and
grows and grows. And the interest hits and grows
and grows and grows. And I could never pay it off. I could never
pay it off. I didn't have money in the first place. I need it
blotted out. I need my debt taken away. I
need my debt paid so there is no more debt. David in verse 2 says, wash me
thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Now,
once again, this is not redundancy. He uses two words, cleanse and
wash. And they're two separate words that have two separate
meanings. Cleanse, it speaks of something that is done once.
And it is in the past tense. Once. Once for all. You know
what David's saying? I have to be cleansed. I have
to be cleansed inside, outside, from the top of my head to the
sole of my foot and everywhere in between. I have to be cleansed.
It has to be done once. By one great work and that not
my own. But I have to be washed. Washed.
And that washed speaks of something that is perpetually done. That's
done daily. And I know exactly what he means here. After a day
of racking up transgression and iniquity and sin, and I don't
even know the half of it. Not even half, I know just the
tip of the iceberg. I don't even know how bad it is. When I lay
my head down on my pillow at night, I have to know that my
sin has been washed away. That the sins of yesterday have
been washed away. That the inevitable sins of tomorrow, they're washed
away too. I have to know that the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb slain before the foundation
of the world, that his blood is always fresh. He is always
freshly slaughtered and fathered. And those sins of today, they've
all been washed away in the blood of Christ. Verse 14, David says,
deliver me from blood guiltiness. Now that term blood guiltiness,
as far as I can tell, has to do with the guilt that accompanies
murder. Murder. And no doubt David couldn't look
at his hands from that day forward without seeing the stain of blood,
the blood of your eye. David was a murderer. The man after
God's own heart. That's you and me. We got blood
on our hands, too. It's the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the same nature. Folks, until we understand that,
it's not if we were there, we would have done the same thing.
We were there. We were the ones who murdered the Son of God.
It's the same nature. That's us. And His blood is on
our hands. David says, I have to be delivered from my blood
guiltiness. Blot out my transgressions. Take away my debt. Wash me and
cleanse me from the perversity and the filth and the shame of
my sin. I got to be delivered. I got to be delivered from my
guilt. How can that be possible? For a man who has nothing but
transgressions and iniquity and sin, how is all this possible?
Look at verse 7. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. Purge me with hyssop. Why don't
we read of Hyssop? Night of the Passover. The Lord
says, I'm going to pass through Egypt. I'm going to kill all
the firstborn and all the houses. But you, Israel, my chosen people,
here's what you're going to do. You take a lamb without spot,
without blemish. You cut his throat, catch that
blood in the basin. You take a bunch of Hyssop. You dip it
in that blood and you smear it over the door and on the side
post. You get inside that house. And when I see the blood, I'll
pass it over to you. Now, me and Levi were talking
about this last night. You would have seen a couple different
types of people inside that house, no doubt. First, you would have
seen some people that were sitting very quietly while all this was
going on. The Lord said, when I see the blood, I'll pass it
over to you. Blood's on the door? No worries.
Believe God. Another type of person, someone
who's huddled in the corner, shaking and scared. He said,
when I see the blood, what, do I know enough? Is my faith strong
enough? shivering, someone of weak faith.
When I see the blood, not when I see your sincerity, not when
I see the strength of your faith, when I see the blood, he was
looking for one thing, and that's blood. And the person who was
in that side of that house, scared to death, and the person who
had full confidence, they were saved the exact same way for
the exact same reason, because of blood. So David said, this
is the only way my debt can be paid. This is the only way I
can be washed, I can be cleansed, I can be delivered from my guilt.
I need the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to be shed
for me. Christ is that house. And the only place of safety
is in that house with the blood over the door. And David's real
descriptive about this. David says, purge me with hyssop.
Now, this is interesting. This is an interesting starting
point. Let me read you where this word purge is used in another
place. But it's translated into a different
word. I'll tell you when we get to the word. This is Genesis
43 verses 8 and 9. And Judas said unto Israel his
father send the lad with me and we will rise and go that we may
live and not die both we and thou and also our little ones.
I will be surety for him of my hand shalt thou require of him.
If I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee then
let me bear bear the blame forever. That is the exact same word as
purge. How can I be delivered? How can my sin be blotted out?
There's only way. The Lord Jesus Christ has to
bear my sins in his body. He has to have bled and died
and put those sins away. And that's the only way I can
be saved. Purge me with hyssop. That's my hope, folks. That's
all I know and that's all my hope. Purge me with hyssop and
I'll be clean. I'll be clean. That's all I need. That's all the Lord was looking
for with blood. Now, David's petition continued.
He didn't stop there. He talks about what must be done
in David. Look at verse 10. David says,
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within
me. Now, notice the word he uses there, create. Create. He did not say refurbish what
is old. Don't fix up this old broken heart and make it better
and make it acceptable. No, you have to create. You have
to put something new in me that was not there before. This is
David petitioning for spiritual life, for a new man, for a new
heart. Why? Why was this so important
to David? Look at verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Because of David, if I, if you,
don't have this new heart and don't have spiritual life breathed
into us, we can't hear. We can't hear the gospel as good
news. Free grace, salvation by grace
alone through the shed blood of Christ will mean absolutely
nothing to us unless we're given this new heart that can hear
it, that can actually hear. Look at verse 12. It says, Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. That free spirit speaks of the
will. They were saying, I need a new
heart. I need a new man with a new will. And if you don't
give me this new will, I'll reject you. I'll war against you. I
need you to actually give me a new will. A willing man. Willing
to be saved by grace. Willing for Christ to get all
the glory in my salvation. You have to give me something
new. A new heart. A new man. With a new will. A will that
lines up. And I'll tell you what, folks.
And you can enter into this, no doubt. Whatever the Lord's will is, I want my
will to just line up whatever that is. Whatever He wants, I
want Him to make me want that thing. Whatever He hates, Have
me to hate that thing. Wherever he'd have me to go,
make me just fine with that. Whatever his will is, I want
my will just to line right up with his. But I have to have
a new heart. I have to have a new man with
a new will. Because the natural man's is, I will not. That's
the problem. Problems with the Lord. Problems
with us. We will not be saved by grace. We will not be saved
to the tune of Christ getting all the glory and our salvation.
We will not by nature. Look at verse 15. O Lord, open
now my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. Lord,
unless you give me the new heart, the new nature, the new man,
I can't praise you. I can't worship you. I can't
enter into worship. I can't. I have to have new lips
that are attached to a new man and a new heart. I can't unless
you do this in me. Now look at verse 11. David says, cast me not away
from my presence. Now, I can certainly enter into
what David's saying here. I covet the Lord's presence and
experience of it to where I can actually feel the Lord draw near
to me and His hand being upon me. And I know He's leading me
and guiding me. And even in my darkest hours, I know that whatever's
happening, it's His will. It's according to his purpose
and everything he does is for his glory and for my good. I
covet that. There's a little more to this.
Let me read you the scripture. This is Jude 124. Keep in mind, David
said, presence cast me not away from my presence. Now listen
to this. Now unto him, that's Christ,
that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Who is the
only man who can truly stand in the presence of God and find
favor? Who is it? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
it. What David is petitioning for
here is union with Christ. What David is saying here is,
he has to dwell in me and I have to dwell in him. I have to be
a part of his body. And that's the example we're
given in the scripture. Why? Why is that so important? Because
he's holy. He is exactly what the Father demands. The very
image of what the Father demands. He's holy. And if He's the head,
and I'm the body, whatever insignificant part I am, if the head is holy,
that means I'm holy too, because I'm part of the body. I'm in
Christ. I'm one with Him. If He's holy,
I'm holy. How holy is the Lord Jesus Christ
right now? Absolutely and utterly holy. Can He get any holier?
Is it even possible? No. And every believer, part
of that body, holy in Him. I gotta be righteous. I have
to have a real righteousness that really is mine. I gotta
be in Christ. I have to be part of that body.
So much so that when he walked the paths of righteousness, when
he lived that perfect life, I was in him. I walked those paths
of righteousness in him. And his righteousness really
is my righteousness because I'm in him. He is the head. We are
the body. The head is righteous. The body
is righteous. The head is holy. The body is holy. He has to dwell
in me, and I have to dwell in Him, that we are one. So much
so that when He comes in His Father's presence, and He finds
love, and He finds favor, and He finds acceptance, that I go
in Him. And I'm finding the same love,
and the same favor, and the same acceptance, because I'm in Him.
It's not enough that He would carry me, that I would go next
to Him, that I would go behind Him. No, no. I have to be in
Him. So much that when the Father
looks at me, He's looking at Christ. And when He looks at
Christ, He's looking at me. One and the same. Cast me not away
from thy presence. Don't put me out of Christ. Keep
me in Christ. Now, look at verse 6. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward ports and in the hidden port. Thou shalt make me to know
wisdom. Folks, what is wisdom? The better
question is, who is wisdom? 1 Corinthians 124, but unto them
which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of
God, and the wisdom of God. Jesus Christ is the wisdom of
God. What does that mean though? You hear people say that all
the time. What does that mean? What does it mean that he's the wisdom
of God? Jesus Christ is the Father's answer to this one great question. How can God be just and justify
somebody like me and like David? How can it be? Jesus Christ is
the answer to that question. His perfect life, His suffering
death, bearing the sins of His people in His body on that tree,
His resurrection, signifying that the Father accepted the
sacrifice, that He really did do what He came to do. He really
did put away the sins of His people. And they really are gone. Jesus Christ's wisdom, He's the
answer to that question. How can God be just and justify
somebody like me? Jesus Christ is the answer to
that question. Now look at this. Well, let me tell you this first.
David says, make me to know wisdom. He's saying, make me to know
Christ. That's wisdom. Make me to know Christ. Make
me to know Him by faith. Give me faith in Christ alone.
Don't give me anywhere else to look. Just fix me on Christ.
My reliance is solely in Him. His shed blood alone, Christ
alone. My confidence is in my works. It's not in my experiences. Not in anything. Not what I know.
My faith isn't in my faith. My faith is in Christ. is in
Christ. Make me to know Christ. Give
me faith in Him. Make me to know Him in a repentant
way. Turn me to Christ and away from myself. Cause me to not
look to myself anyway. Turn me to Christ that I could
see Him. And if we stand in His... If the Lord reveals Himself to
a man and he stands in the glory of Christ, he'll see himself
for what he is. He'll get at least a glimpse
of it. That's when the fear of the Lord steps in. You're afraid
to look anywhere but Christ alone. That's it. Couldn't possibly
look at my work. I couldn't look at anything about
me. It's Christ alone. I'm looking at Christ. I want
the Father to look at Christ. Everybody's looking at Christ. That's it.
And know Him in love. Not that I just wouldn't just
understand that this is a system of salvation, but to love this
man, Jesus Christ, and to love His people. I can't do that unless
the Lord gives you a new heart. It's just impossible. Now, wisdom. Turn to James 3 and look at verse
17. Now, Christ is wisdom, and James
here gives us a description of wisdom. And I think it's beautiful,
and I want to read it off to you, because this is the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. James 3, look at verse 17. But
the wisdom that is from above, that's Christ, he is the wisdom
of God that is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
and easy to be entreated. full of mercy and good fruits
without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now that's a description
of the Lord Jesus Christ and I want to go through each one
of those words real quick. First, He's pure. He's pure.
He's absolutely holy. He's sinless. He is altogether
righteousness and yet He became the sins of His people. And that's
amazing. He is peaceable. First, that
means this. It means He's not stressed and
He is not worried and He is not wringing His hands and walking
around the halls of heaven just hoping then he'll let them have
his way. He is not stressed in the least. He's completely peaceful
because he's sovereign. He has the power to make his
will come to pass and his will always does come to pass and
he's always easy. He's always easy. He's always peaceful. But
he's also at peace with his people, with the elect. Why? Because
he has made their peace with God. He's at peace with his people. He's gentle. and easy to be entreated. He's not harsh. He's not harsh. He doesn't hold sinners off at
arm's length. And that's what you'll hear the
rebuttal against election is this. The Lord elected some men
to salvation, He elected some others to damnation, and those
people who have been elected to damnation, a lot of them are
going to cry out for mercy, but the Lord is going to hold them
off at arm's length. No, no, I just didn't choose you. No,
no, no. He's gentle. And He's easy to
be entreated. Absolutely not. You can come
to Him. If you're a sinner, you can come to him. This man received
the sinners and he eats with them. You look through the scriptures.
Who felt comfortable in the Lord's presence? Sinners. That's who felt comfortable in
his presence. You know who didn't feel comfortable? Pharisees. Those who look down
at others, esteem them better than their brother. They felt
very uncomfortable in his presence. But if you're a sinner, I mean,
you've got nothing to bring to the table. No good works to recommend
yourself. You can sit on down and eat with him. He's easy to
be entreated. Come to him. He's full of mercy. He is rich in it. And he delights
to show it. Now, get a hold of that for a
second. How often do you do the things you like to do? Whole
time, right? If you like doing something,
you do it as often as you can. He delights to show mercy. He enjoys
doing this. He enjoys showing mercy to people
like you and me. Believe that? He is without partiality. Now, this was interesting. I
looked up what that word partiality means. First it means this. It
means he is non-ambiguous. He is not complicated. Now religion
will make things as complicated as they possibly can so they
look like they're smarter than the guy next to them. The Lord
Jesus Christ is not complicated. And yet the only way a man will
ever know him is if he reveals himself to that man. That's the
truth. He is without partiality in this
sense. That means he's certain. That
means he's utterly reliable. That means you You, I'm talking
to you right now, each and every one of you individually. You
can trust him with the very salvation of your soul. Trust him completely
with nothing to bring to the table, nothing of your own. And
you know what? He is utterly reliable. He will
save you to the uttermost. He's without partiality. Here's
the last thing it means. It means he's without partiality.
You know what that means? Romans 10, 13, for whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, let
me be very clear about this. Who's going to be saved? The
elect. Those chosen by the Father in
Christ Jesus before the foundations of the world. Who does God love? The elect. Those chosen in Christ
before the foundations of the world. Who did Christ die for?
The elect. And you know what? He is completely
without partiality. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, he shall be saved. Folks, I don't have access
to the Lamb's Book of Life. I can't see my name written in
that book, but I know this, I'm a whosoever. And I'm calling
upon his name. Calling upon his name is calling
upon his attributes. His sovereignty, his power, his
mercy, his electing grace. I'm calling on him to save me
with absolutely no help from me to the tune of his honor and
his glory. And you know what? I'm a whosoever.
Come on. He's easy to be entreated. And
gentle. Come on. What's in your way?
What's stopping you? And finally this, and I love
this, He's without hypocrisy. He's without hypocrisy. Now,
we talked about that earlier. Hypocrisy speaks of acting. It's
talking about an actor who's acting out a play or a scene
in a movie, something like that. It looks real. It has all the
trimmings of that which is real, but it's not. It's fake. It's
a lie. Now, number one, the Lord cannot act with hypocrisy because
whatever He says, whatever He does, it just becomes truth simply
because He didn't. He has that power. He's the beginning
of all things. He's the sovereign. He's omnipotent.
He's incapable of any type of hypocrisy. But also this, there
is no hypocrisy in what he says in this book. There's no acting.
There's nothing veiled. There's nothing secretive about
this. When he says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest, there is no hypocrisy
in that statement. There is nothing veiled. There
is nothing secretive. It means exactly what it says.
You, who are labored, You're tired. Tired of trying to work
your way out of your sin. Tired of finding the answer.
Labored and heavy laden. Heavy laden with the burden of
your sin and you can't shake it. You are commanded to come. This is not an invitation. Because
if it was an invitation, I'd find a way to turn it down. Somebody
gives me an invitation to a wedding. I don't know them real well.
They're probably just being nice. You know, we met at a party six years
ago. I'll just send them a gift. They don't really want me there.
I can think of all good reasons to turn down an invitation. This
is not an invitation. You who are labored and heavy laden,
you're commanded to come to trust Christ right now in Him alone.
But I don't think I know enough. Who cares? Who cares? Well, my
life is kind of in shambles right now. Yeah. Come on. Come just as you are. How did
Bartimaeus come? Naked? exposed, blind, just as he was. That's it. That's how you come
to Christ. Now, I'm going to leave you with
this. Turn to 2 Samuel 12, verse 13. David is asking for a lot here,
isn't he? He begs for mercy. He acknowledges he's not worthy
of it. Nothing but transgressions, iniquity, and sin. He says, purge
me with his. I got to be found in Christ.
I got to be in that house with a boat over the door. It says, created
me clean heart, breathe spiritual life into me. That's what he's
asking. He's asking for a lot. Now, what I think is beautiful
about this is the order in which all this happens. Let me read
this to you. Second Samuel 12, 13. This is
the conversation that took place shortly after the Lord used Nathan
to break David's heart. This is one of the last couple
of conversations there. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned
against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, Lord also hath
put away thou that I sinned. Thou shalt not die. Now the order
here is so important. David has sinned. He sinned against
the Lord, sinned against light. He enters into this cold, hard-hearted,
unrepentant state. He won't seek the Lord. He didn't
seek the Lord this entire year. He wouldn't seek the Lord. The
Lord came to David where he was at. In this cold, hard-hearted,
it's the same place he met you and me at. Cold, hard-hearted,
unrepentant state. And he broke David's heart. Who
took action? The Lord took action. He intervened. He stepped in that man's tracks
right there. He sent Nathan to that man. And he tells David,
in no uncertain terms, you've been forgiven. You've absolutely
been forgiven. You've been showed mercy. Past
tense. It is finished. And what is the
very next thing David does? What's the very next thing David
says? Have mercy upon me, O God. Here's my point. If you or I
right now are begging for this same mercy, that David is begging
for. Lord, I'm nothing but transgression
and iniquity and sin. You've got to do something for
me. You've got to do something to me, and you have to do it all. You
have to do it all. Purge me with hyssop. I can't
contribute to this. You have to do it all. There's
one reason that prayer is on our heart, because we've already
been shown mercy. We were shown mercy before we
ever knew we needed it. We were shown mercy before we
had ever had any thoughts towards God. Before we were ever seeking
Him, we were shown mercy way back then. He came to us first
and He met us where we were at. Apathetic. Uninterested. Driving towards hell as fast
as we could get. And He stopped us dead in our tracks. Let me
ask you a few questions here. Can the old man confess his sins? The natural man's heart. Does
he have any knowledge of his sins? You can't. How about this? Can the
natural heart recognize that it's broken? No. No, the natural heart can't recognize
that it doesn't work. No, it absolutely can't. Can a dead
man long for life? A dead man can't do anything. He's dead. He's dead. David says,
create in me a clean heart. That's our prayer over and over.
Lord, create in me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit in me. The
only man that cries that prayer out is the man who has a new
heart. and a clean spirit. It's only
a live man that can recognize a dead man. It's only a heart
that works that recognizes the brokenness of the old one. Now
folks, I know that you can't see in yourself holiness, because
I can't see it in me either. I can't see the righteousness,
that I'm righteous before God. I can't see that. Absolutely
not. We know that all by faith. We understand this. But if this
is your prayer, this is the believer's prayer, this is a man who has,
already has, been shown mercy. These things he's asking for,
he's already been given. I'm going to leave you there.