Our text tonight is going to
come from Psalm 51, but turn with me first to Matthew chapter
seven. Matthew chapter seven. Our Lord told a large group of
religious people, And I want to emphasize that. I want to
make it very clear that he was speaking to religious people,
church going people, just like us. They thought they had salvation. They thought they were saved. They were religious. But our
Lord said to them, he said, you missed it. You missed Christ. You don't have salvation. You have greatly erred. That's what he said. You've greatly
erred. And he said, this is where you went wrong. You have erred. Not knowing the scriptures. Not
knowing the scriptures, what a what a great error. Especially
today, what a great error of man not knowing the scriptures. not knowing and understanding
what God has to say to sinners in His Word. Now, right here in Matthew chapter
seven, these two verses that we're about to read, these are
matter of fact verses. Our Lord has said that this is
so, therefore this is so. This is how it's going to be.
Matthew 7 verse 7, it says, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth,
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." That's how it's going
to be for every man and woman on this earth. That's how it
is going to be for every man and woman on this earth. But
so sadly, so sadly, this is where mankind has gone wrong. This
is where man has erred, as our Lord put it. He is not asking
for the right thing. He is not seeking the right thing. He is not knocking on the right
door. If a man asks for God to give
him what he deserves, man asks for many things, and if one of
those things is for God to give him what he deserves, that's
what men think and believe that God is gonna give to them. They say, just give me what I've,
what I deserve. Give me what I've earned. This
is everything I've done. They think they're going to bring
everything to him that they've done and say, well, this is what
I've done. Now just give me what I've earned. If a man asks for
God to give him what he deserves, that's what he'll get. That's
what he's going to get. If that's what he asked for,
that's what he's going to get. The thing is, man does not realize
that all he has earned and all he deserves is the wrath of God
on his sin. Man doesn't know that. It's so
sad. Mankind does not know that. Man
believes God is so proud of him. And he's gonna go to God and
say, okay, give me what I've earned. And he doesn't realize
that the only thing he's earned is the wrath of God on his sin. That's all, all he's earned.
If a man seeks his own self-righteousness, if he seeks his own works and
his own righteousness, that's what he'll get. That's what he'll
go meet God with. But man does not realize that
all of his works and all of his righteousness, everything he's
ever done is filthy rags in God's eyes. He's never done anything pleasing
to God. It's all filthy rags. If a man knocks on the door of
his own way, you go to a door because you want to enter in.
That's the reason you go to a door. You want to enter in. If a man
wants to enter in his own way, that's the door God will open
to him. His own way. There is a way that seems right
to man, but man does not realize that the end thereof is always
destruction. Always destruction. Now, here
is my prayer for us tonight. Here's my prayer for us. Here's
my prayer for us. Here's my prayer for us. I pray
that God will teach us something through his scriptures tonight.
I pray that God will open our eyes to see something of what
he has written in his word to sinners. And I pray that through
these scriptures, God will keep us from great error. In Psalm
51, David asked for the right thing. David asked for the right
thing. David sought the right thing. David knocked on the right door.
That is what I want to do. That's what I want to do. I want
to seek, I want to ask, I want to knock on the right thing,
the right door, and that's what I want you to do. So let's see if the Lord will
open our eyes to this like it's the first time we've ever read
it. For believers especially, Psalm 51 is a favorite psalm. It's a psalm that we quote very
often. very often, and I pray the Lord
will teach us something in this Psalm that is applicable to right
now, something that applies to right now, something we need
today, right now. Go with me if you would to Psalm
51. Now, the Lord said, that David
was a man after his own heart. David is the one who wrote this.
And the Lord said that David was a man after his own heart.
But here's the fact of the matter. David was a sinner. He was a
sinner, just like you are a sinner. Just like I'm a sinner. All have
sinned. David was no different. The heading
just under the title of the psalm, it says, to the chief musician,
a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after
he had gone in to Bathsheba. We know that great sin that he
committed by taking Bathsheba for himself. And the moment God
revealed his sin to him, God sent Nathan the prophet to him.
And Nathan said, David, you're the man. And the moment God revealed
his sin to him, this is what David said, as soon as he saw
it, as soon as God opened his eyes to it, as soon as God broke
him with it, this is what he said, verse one, have mercy upon
me, oh God, according to thy loving kindness, according to
the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Have
mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me. Have mercy
upon me. Now, honestly, honestly, I feel
that now more than ever, time is of the essence. Sometimes
I've said so many times, what if this was my last message?
Sometimes I think, I wonder if this is going to be my last message.
I feel that time is of the essence. And honestly, honestly, let's
ask ourselves this question. Do we hear men and women asking
God for that today? I was driving over here to the
church building and passing all these churches, all these churches
along the way. And I was thinking about each
one of them have a man, he stands up in a pulpit and he preaches
to them. I wonder if that man is telling any of these people
to cry out and ask God for this. How many people are there today
truly asking God to have mercy on them? Our God said, whatever
you ask for, that's what you're gonna get. God has not changed. Man has
not changed. Man's sin has not changed. What man needed then, man needs
today. But this is so sad to me, so
sad to me. Rarely will you find a sinner,
I mean rarely, will you find a sinner asking God, truly begging
God for this one thing that he needs to receive more than anything
else, mercy. Mercy, rarely will you find a
sinner asking God for that. Men and women ask God very commonly,
for health, wealth, happiness, strength, courage, things. But it's a rare thing to find
a man or a woman who has, in their heart, fallen on their
knees. I mean, truly been made to. That's
the only way a sinner will, is if God makes him to. But it's
such a rare thing to find a sinner who has truly fallen to their
knees, broken over their sin, begging God for mercy. That's
such a rare thing. You just don't hear it. I wish
I heard it more. I wish I heard it more coming
out of my own heart. I wish I heard it more right
here. God be merciful to me. God be merciful to me. The only
thing that will spare a sinner from an eternity of destruction
and punishment for our sin is God's mercy. There's only one
thing that will spare us from an absolute eternity of punishment. God's mercy. That's it. God's
mercy. And every sinner who has ever
asked for it has received it. You talk about good news. There's only one thing that will
spare a sinner from an eternity of damnation. And every sinner
who has ever asked for it has received it. That publican in the temple cried,
God be merciful to me, a sinner. That Pharisee in the temple was
saying, I'm so glad I'm not like him. He's so much worse than
I am. That publican said, he's right. I'm so much worse than he is.
God be merciful to me, the sinner. God said, justified. To the Pharisee,
he said, you're not justified. But because that publican cried
out and he asked God for one thing, he said, Lord, I'm asking
you for one thing. Would you please be merciful
to me? God said, justified. Totally
justified. I believe one of my favorite
accounts in the scripture is the time that our Lord was passing
through Jericho. This is one of my favorite, favorite
stories. As he was passing through, it
says there was a great crowd of people there. All of these
people, He was passing right by. They were all there watching
Him, looking at Him. But He was just passing by. They missed Him. They missed
Him. He passed right through them.
Probably so many of them reached out and touched Him. And they
missed Him. They touched Him and they missed
Him. He was just passing right through Jericho, straight through
town. But as he was passing by, he heard the cry of a blind man
who was sitting on the highway side begging. And this blind man was not begging
the Lord for money. He was begging the Lord for mercy. And they told that man to hush,
and the more they said hush, the louder he cried. He cried,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And this is what
it says, God, the Lord Jesus Christ, stop. And he looked at him. Here's
this blind man. He doesn't know the Lord of Glory is looking
at him. He's still sitting there crying. Oh, have mercy on me.
Have mercy on me. And God Almighty said, bring
him to me. And from that moment, that man
was made whole. And you know what he did after
that? Followed the Lord. Wherever he went, he followed
the Lord. This is what I pray that the
Lord might teach us tonight through the scriptures. We need mercy. People are not being told that
enough. People don't know that. They don't know that. They don't
know what they need. We need mercy. Ask for mercy. Ask the Lord for
mercy. Mercy is what we need to be begging
God for at all times. I need mercy. I need mercy. I need mercy. You need mercy. We need mercy. He said, if we
ask out of a sincere, sincere heart, out of the sincere depths
of our souls, if we ask for it, he said, we'll receive. He said,
you ask and you'll receive. Psalm 51 verse 1 says, have mercy
upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. Loving kindness
means grace. It means graciousness, favor,
generosity, free generosity. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies. David said, I need a multitude
of your tender mercies. Why, David? It's because I have
a multitude of sin. I have a multitude of sin, that's
why. Men and women who are blind to the truth of their condition
before God. This is how you can know if a
man or a woman is blind and lost before God. They think they rarely sin. That's
how you can know. That's the fastest way to tell. They think they rarely sin. If God In mercy, this is his
mercy. If God in mercy has revealed
to a person the true reality of his or her condition before
God, if they see it, that sinner will cry, I need infinite mercy
because I have infinite sin. I need to be spared your wrath. I need for you to not give me
what I deserve. I'm not asking for what I deserve.
I'm not asking for what I've earned. I'm asking for you to
spare me from that. I need mercy. I need mercy. In verse three right here in
Psalm 51, David said, I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is
ever before me. It is always before me. My sin
is always before me. A man who is blind to himself
and blind to God will say, I've been doing pretty good lately.
A man who has God's spirit, who has had everything revealed to
him. says my sins are ever before me, I can't get away from my
sin. It's what I do, it's what I am,
it's on me, it's in me. Verse four, he said, 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. Whatever you do with me, you're
right in it. He said, behold, I was shapen
in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Sin is what
I am. It's what I've done because it's
what I am. So David said, I'm begging for
mercy. That's what I'm asking for. David said, Lord, this is
what I'm asking for. I'm asking for mercy. We need
to apply this to our current state before God right now. That's what we need to be asking
for right now, mercy. Now look with me at the end of
verse one. David said, this is what I'm
seeking. This is what I'm seeking. At
the end of verse one, he said, according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. He said, I'm seeking blood. I'm asking for mercy. I'm seeking
blood. Down in verse seven, he said,
Purge me with hyssop. This is what I'm seeking. Purge
me with hyssop. Hyssop was a bush that they used
in the sacrifice to dip it in the blood. And they had a lamb
that was slain and they had that lamb's blood and they would dip
it in the blood. And with that hyssop, they would
sprinkle the blood all over the mercy seat. David said, I am
seeking your blood. I need mercy. Therefore, I'm
seeking your blood. I'm asking for mercy. Therefore,
I'm seeking your blood. He said, it's the only thing
that will blot out my transgressions. We cannot right our wrongs. Every now and then a man or a
woman gets a conscience and he feels like he has to go right
his wrongs. We can't. We can't do that. We don't need to seek our own
redemption. Man's constantly trying to redeem
himself. It's not a possibility. We don't
need to seek our own redemption. There's only one thing that can
blot out our transgressions and redeem us from our sin, and that's
the blood of God's Lamb. That's the only thing, the sacrifice
that He gave, the sacrifice He made for man's sin. For years
and years and years, man tried to make his own sacrifice for
sin, and he offered his own sacrifice for sin. But God came and He
made a sacrifice for sin. God offered His own sacrifice
for sin, the sacrifice of His own Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
David said, I'm seeking His blood alone to blood out all my transgressions. It was God's mercy that gave
us His blood. Look with me at Isaiah 43, over
in Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah 43 verse 25 says, this
is our Lord speaking, He said, that blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins. That's a glorious
verse. He said, I'll do it for my own
sake because this is who I am. He said, I'll blot out all your
transgressions and I will not remember thy sins. Why will he
not remember our sins? because they're blotted out.
They're all smothered with blood, covered in blood. If you look
at Isaiah 44 right here at verse 21, it says, Remember these,
O Jacob and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed
thee. Thou art my servant, O Israel. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. I won't forget you. I have blotted
out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins. He said, I blotted them out so
thickly you can't see through it. He said, return unto me for
I have redeemed thee. He said, I blotted out all your
sins. Now come, come to me. Verse 23 says, Sing, O ye heavens,
for the Lord hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, you
mountains, O forest, and every tree therein. For the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob and glorified Himself in Israel. The Lord said in Jeremiah 31,
verse 34, He said, I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember
their sin no more. They'll be gone, blotted out
in the blood. Where did this blotting out take
place? Where did God do this? He said he would do this. Where
did he do this? On the cross of Calvary. Right
there, the blood was drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And all the
sins of God's people were blotted out. All of them. Go with me
back over to Psalm 51. David said, Lord, this is what
I'm asking for. I'm asking for mercy. And he
said, this is what I'm seeking. I'm seeking blood. I'm seeking
sinless, holy blood. And he said, this is the door
I'm knocking on for both of those things, the door of Christ alone,
not my door, not anybody else's door, Christ's door. Verse one, he said, have mercy
upon me. Oh God, I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. No one else.
Only you have mercy upon me, oh God. He said, according to
thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies, I need you. I need you alone to blot out
my transgressions. Verse two, he said, I need you
to wash me throughly from mine iniquity. He said, you must cleanse
me from my sin. Again, down in verse seven, he
said, you must purge me with hyssop. You have to be the one
to do it. If you do, I'll be clean. If you wash me, I'll be
whiter than snow. Men and women are always talking
about what they are going to do for God. That's what men and
women are always talking about, what they are going to do for
God. If God ever does something for
them. They will, along with Job, they'll
say, I think it's time I put my hand over my mouth. If God
ever does something for them. Let me show you something very
quickly over in John 13. John 13 verse 1 says, Now before
the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was
come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto
the end. And supper being ended, the devil
having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son
to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all
things into his hands, and that he was come from God and went
to God, he riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments,
and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth
water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet,
and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then
cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost
thou wash my feet? Peter said, Lord, you're gonna
wash my feet. Jesus answered and said unto
him, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, thou shalt
never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. I'm sure Peter had good intentions. And I'm sure in the minds of
men and women, they have good intentions on everything they're
going to do for God. But men and women cannot cleanse
themselves. and they cannot do anything to
make themselves acceptable to God. It never works. They try and they try, but it
never works. It is not the way. Us doing the
work for God is not the way. The Lord said, I am the way. I am the door. He said, no man
comes to the Father, but by me. And he said, if I don't cleanse
you, you'll never be clean. The Lord said, Peter, if I don't
wash you, you have no part with me. Now look what Peter said
in verse nine. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord,
not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. He said with
David, wash me throughly. If that's the case, wash me throughly,
head to toe. Wash me completely. Go back with
me to Psalm 51. David said, Lord, I'm asking
for mercy. I'm seeking blood. And to receive
that, I'm knocking on the door of Christ alone. The end of verse
six, he said, make me to know wisdom. Make me to know Christ. Wisdom is Christ. Wisdom is Christ. Righteousness is Christ. Sanctification
is Christ. Redemption is Christ. It's all
Christ. Verse seven, he said, 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 has broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create a clean
heart in me. Create a clean heart. This is
an old, stony, hard, broken heart. The Lord said, I'm gonna remove
that heart. I'm gonna put a new heart in. I'm gonna create a
clean heart. He said, create a clean heart,
oh 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. He said, then will I teach transgressors,
people just like me. He's already said, I acknowledge
all my transgressions. I'm a sinner. My sins are ever
before me. He said, I'll teach people just
like me in the same boat I am, 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. Christ. 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." The one that's crying, Lord,
have mercy on me. Verse 18, he said, do good in
thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem,
then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness. That's the sacrifices of Christ.
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering, then shall they
offer bullocks upon that altar. He said, if you create a clean
heart in us, and if you renew a right spirit in us, we will
worship you. We'll worship you. We will stop
worshiping ourselves. like man is so prone to do. That's
what religion is full of, self-worship and self-righteousness. And he
said, Lord, if you do this for us, if you create this clean
heart and if you renew this right spirit, you'll turn us. We'll stop worshiping ourselves
and we'll bow down and worship you. Now, I want to end this
message by telling all of us, no matter how old, no matter
how young, I want to tell all of us that we are sinners against
God. We are sinners against God. That's
what we are. This is the only hope that we
have. We need to ask for his mercy. We need to ask for his mercy.
It's something we need to be doing. I was thinking this afternoon
about We have so many young ones. I hope our children are watching
right now. I hope our children are in your homes watching this
right now. If you are old enough to understand
what I'm saying, ask God for mercy. You are a sinner just
like your parents are sinners, just like I'm a sinner. And you
need to ask God for mercy. Your parents need to ask God
for mercy. Your grandparents need to ask
God for mercy. We all need to beg God for mercy. We all need to seek His cleansing
blood. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We need to seek His blood. Where do we find it? Where is
that blood found? We need to knock on the door
of one man, Christ. Christ Jesus, our Lord. Christ the door. Christ is the
way. If we do, if we do that, it's
him doing it in us. It's him doing it for us. If
we seek his face, it's because he said, seek my face. If we
find him, it's because he sought us. He's doing it. But if we
do, if he creates that in us, then this is his promise to us. He said, everyone that asketh,
this is why I'm telling all of us to do it. Do it with a sincere
heart. Cry out to him, I'm a sinner
in need of mercy. I seek one thing, your blood. I need your blood. And you're
the way, you're the only way I have. You're the door. I'm
knocking, keep knocking until he opens that door because this
is his promise. Everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. If you go seeking the blood of
Christ alone, God says you'll find it. And to him that knocketh,
and knocketh, and knocketh, and knocketh, it shall be opened. I pray God will teach us that.
I pray He'll teach us that. I pray He'll cause us to get
a hold of what He has said to sinners in His Word. And I pray He will allow us to
not err. Lord, teach us the Scripture.
Teach us what You've said. Draw us to Yourself. Save us. I pray He will. All right, let's
sing a closing song.