Turn back, if you would, to Psalm
25. Psalm chapter 25. The translators put headings
on the top of our pages to summarize what's on that page. And above
verses six and seven on my page, it says, a prayer for pardon
and help. And that's the title of this
message, a prayer for pardon and help. We're going to look
at the first seven verses. Verse 1 in Psalm 25 says, Unto
thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift
up my soul. Even though I know that my soul
is in your hands. I know that it is. Our Lord said
in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, when the end of this life comes, and it's a man's last day, Ecclesiastes
12 verse 7 says, Then shall the dust return to the earth as it
was. From dust we came, and to dust
we're going back. And the Spirit, or the soul shall
return unto God who gave it. Then shall the dust return to
the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God
who gave it. God breathed life into man's
nostrils, and man became a living soul. And in that last day, that
soul was going back to God who gave it. Even though I know my
soul is in your hands, I lift up my soul unto thee. That's
an awesome statement. I put my soul in your hands because it's absolutely no good
in my hands. It's no good. I defile it. I ruin it. I drown it in sin
and in filth. Lord, hold my soul." That's a deep request of every
true believer. My soul is in your hands, Lord. Keep it. Hold my soul. Hold on to my soul. Verse 2 says,
Oh my God, I trust in Thee. I have to. I have to. It's the only trust that I have. It's all I have. I've proven
to myself that I cannot trust in me. I let me down. I can't trust
in me. I trust You. Lord, I trust You. Would You hold my soul? You're
the only one I trust with my soul. Please, Lord, verse 2 says,
let me not be ashamed because what I've done with the soul
that you gave me, I'm so ashamed. Can we not say that in honesty
and sincerity? I'm so ashamed. So ashamed. Let me not be ashamed. Lord, please hold my soul. Verse
2 says, Let not mine enemies triumph over me. I don't have
anybody trying to kill me. Like David did. And I don't even know of anybody
who's trying to do me harm. Really. But I do have enemies. My first and foremost enemy is
my pride. My pride. I hate it. I hate it. Whether a person sees
it or not, it's there and I hate it. Don't we all? My inward arrogance is my enemy. My self-worth is my enemy. If we all get honest, we know it's there. We hate it,
don't we? We hate it. My biggest enemies
are right inside here. It's not out there. They're inside
here. Lord, please, let not mine enemies
triumph over me. Don't let my pride get the best
of me. Please. Lord, hold my soul. Let me look to Thee. Let me trust
in Thee. Let me wait on Thee. Verse 3
says, Yea, let none that wait on Thee be ashamed. Let them
be ashamed which transgress without cause. Without cause. They just don't care. No regret. Lord, if you don't
reach down your hand, that's me. That's me. Transgress without
cause. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I acknowledge my transgressions.
My sins are ever before me. Verse 4 says, Show me thy ways,
O Lord. Show me thy ways. Lord, would
you show me how you would have me to be? Show me how you would
have me to be. Show me thy ways and teach me
to do it. He says, teach me thy paths. Lord, I know that actions speak
louder than words. Show me how you would have me
to be and teach me to do it. Teach me to do it. Verse 5 says,
Lead me in thy truth. Lead me in thy Word. Lead me in the Word of God. Lead
me in the commandments of God. Lead me in the doctrine of God,
the Christ of God. He said, I am the truth. Lead
me in thy truth and change me. That scripture says, lead me
in thy truth and teach me. Teach me. Change me. I don't want to be like me anymore. I really don't. I have not lived
that long, but I'm already pretty tired of me. I'm just being honest. I don't want to be like me anymore.
I want to be like my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's who I want to be like.
Change me, Lord. I want to be conformed to His
image. The things that I do, the things that I'm so ashamed
of, that I do, I honestly wish I didn't do them. I really do. The things that I don't do, that
I ought to be doing, but I don't do them. I wish I did. I wish I did. Change me. Lord, change me. Hold on to my
soul and until you redeem this body, until my body catches up
to my soul, we're in a body of death. Lord, hold me. Hold me. Hold on to me. Keep me. Hold my soul. Verse 5 says, For thou art the
God of my salvation. You are my only hope. Thou art
the God of my salvation. I only have one hope, Lord, and
it's You. All of my eggs are in one basket. One basket. On Thee do I wait
all the day. Lord, I wait on Thee to take
away my shame. One of these days, He's going
to take away my shame. I wait on Thee to triumph over
my enemies. I wait on Thee to show me Thy
ways. Teach me Thy paths. Lead me in
Thy truth and teach me. Lord, teach me. Change me. Turn
with me to 1 Corinthians 15. I love this verse of Scripture.
1 Corinthians chapter 15 and look at verse 49. As we have borne the image of
the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now
this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. Not every
person on this world is going to die physically. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound." I love the thought that one day,
while we're going about our lives and going about our jobs and
going about the things that we do, all of the sudden, trumpets. are going to roar through the
sky. And it's not going to be the kind of thing where it's
like, did somebody hear trumpets? It's going to be loud. The trump
shall sound, and I don't know if it's going to sound three
times, or I don't know if it's going to sound seven times, but
on the last blast of the trump, and the trumpet shall sound,
the dead shall be raised incorruptible. And whoever's left on this earth
is going to see it happen. I thought about this, Chris.
I've thought about this for years. I want to hear those trumpets.
I really do. That's something I love to hear
jets fly over. As soon as I hear a fighter jet
coming, I am looking. I want to hear those trumpets.
And I thought, I hope I'm alive when the Lord comes back. I want
to see all this. And then it hit me. The dead
in Christ are going to rise first. and whoever is here is going
to see this happen. The dead shall be raised incorruptible
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord." When we become changed, no more sin. No more sin. And when we have
no more sin, death has no more sting. This mortal shall put
on immortality. That's an awesome thought to
me. That is an awesome thought to me. Our text says, For thou
art the God of my salvation. He's going to save me from this
body of death. Om Thee do I wait. That's what
we're doing here. We're waiting on the Lord. That's
what we're doing here. We're waiting on the Lord. We
stand up and we say the Lord is coming back. He's going to
change us. We're going to get rid of this
sin. We're going to get rid of this body of death. We're going
to be like our Lord. He's going to save us. On thee
do I wait all the day. Now back in our text, Psalm 25, David is going to ask the Lord
for three things. And these three things are what
every begging sinner needs from the Lord. A sinner needs three
things. In order to trust in Him, in
order to not be ashamed, and in order to be changed into His
image, we need three things. This is every sinner's prayer
for pardon in hell. David asked, and we all ask,
three remembers. Three remembers. The first one
is in verse 6. Remember, O Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy loving kindnesses, for they have been ever of old. I need that. Our concordance
says tender mercy means compassion. Lord, would you remember thy
compassion. Lord, would you remember that
you will have compassion on whom you will have compassion. Please
remember that, Lord. Lord, please remember that your
compassions fail not. Please. Mercy is not getting
what we deserve. The Lord's tender mercy is a
holding back of something. Loving kindness is a giving of
something. It's a grace. Grace is a gift. Grace is getting what we don't
deserve. Lord, would you remember, please,
would you remember to not give me what I deserve. That's what I need. I need you
to please, Lord, not give me what I deserve. And please, Lord,
would you remember to give me what I don't deserve. And that's
Christ. I don't deserve Him. I don't
deserve His blood. I've ruined the soul you gave
me. I deserve death. I need compassion. I need you to please give me
what I don't deserve. Would you remember what you purposed
in your covenant before the foundation of the world? Verse 6 says, Remember,
O Lord, Thy tender mercies and Thy loving kindnesses, for they
have been ever of old before the foundation of the world.
The second remember in this prayer for pardon and help is in verse
7. He says, Remember not the sins
of my youth nor my transgressions. Please. Lord, remember not the
sins of my past. Don't remember the sins of my
present. And please don't remember the
sins that I'm going to commit in the future. Notice David did
not say, forgive the sins of my youth. He didn't say forgive,
although David asked for forgiveness all the time. Psalm 130 says,
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall
stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee. I need forgiveness. But here he's asking the Lord
to go even farther than that. Farther than that. He says, Lord,
after you forgive my sin, would you forget it? Forget it. Would you forget that it ever
even existed? Is that possible? Is that possible? Is that even possible with God? The God who knows all things. The God who knows the end from
the beginning. The God who ordered all things. The God who knows all faults,
even the intent of the heart. The God who knows the motive
of everything. Is it even possible for God to
forget something? Well, the scripture says, with
God, all things are possible. We in our sin, we say to each
other, I forgive you, but I will never forget it. What we mean by that is, I'm
gonna keep that memory close, just in case I ever need to pull
it back out and hang it over your head again. David said, I need my sin to
be gone. Please, please, Lord, don't let
it hang over my head ever again. Turn with me to Jeremiah 31. Listen to the word of the Lord
our God in Jeremiah 31. This is so wonderful. Jeremiah 31, verse 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel,
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break, although I wasn't husband unto them, saith the
Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every
man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, For they shall all
know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith
the Lord." What he's saying is, I'm going to show them all my
ways. All of them. I'm going to teach
them all my paths. All of them. I'm going to lead
all of them in my truth. and I'm going to teach them.
And no man's going to stand up and say to his brother, know
the Lord. They're all going to know. He
says, they shall all know Me. From the least of them unto the
greatest of them saith the Lord, for I will do two things. I will forgive their iniquity,
and then I will remember their sin no more. I will forgive and then I will
forget. That's good news. It never happened. It never happened. Those sins that haunt us, they never happen. Not in the
mind of God. Not in the eyes of God. They
never happen. In our text, Psalm 25, the third
remember is in verse 7. According to thy mercy, remember
thou me. For thy goodness sake, O Lord.
Remember thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses, Remember
not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions, and remember
me. Please remember me. I love that
song that I sang this morning, Even Me, Even Me. While you're calling others,
call me. Call me too, please. For thy goodness sake. The Lord
told Moses, I will make all my goodness pass before you. And that goodness was the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he's saying, Lord, would you remember me for
Christ's sake? Please, for Christ's sake. Now
when we hear the two words, remember me, there's one event that comes
to my mind specifically. And I want us to look at it.
And in this one event, let's see just how great the Lord's
compassion, and His tender mercies and His loving kindnesses are
toward us. And let's see Him forget the
sins of our youth and our transgressions. And let's watch Him remember
us, okay? Turn with me to Luke 23. Luke chapter 23. I'm going to read most of this
chapter, and then we'll close. We're almost finished. And we
know this event well, and it's all our hope. Our hope
is built on this one event right here. Luke 23, verse 1 says,
And the whole multitude of them arose, and led our Lord unto
Pilate. There was a great multitude of
people, a huge crowd of people, who took our Lord and led Him
to Pilate. And they began to accuse him,
this great crowd of people began to accuse him, saying, We found
this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute
to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a king. And Pilate
asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? And he answered
him and said, Thou sayest it. Then said Pilate to the chief
priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man. And they
were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching
throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. When
Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilean.
And as soon as he knew that he belonged under Herod's jurisdiction,
he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that
time. And when Herod saw Jesus, he
was exceeding glad, for he was desirous to see Him of a long
season, because he'd heard many things of Him, and he hoped to
have seen some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned with
Him in many words, but our Lord answered him nothing. And the
chief priest and scribes stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod with his men of war
set him at naught, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous
robe, and sent him again to Pilate. And the same day Pilate and Herod
were made friends together, for before they were at enmity between
themselves. And Pilate, when he had called
together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, said
unto them, You have brought this man unto me as one that perverted
the people, and behold, I, having examined him before you, have
found no fault in this man touching those things whereof you accuse
him. No, nor yet Herod, for I sent you to him, and lo, nothing worthy
of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him
and release him. for of necessity he must release
one of them at the feast. And they cried out all at once,
saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas, who
for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder was
cast into prison. Pilate therefore, willing to
release Jesus, spake again to this great crowd of people, But
they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto
them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found
no cause of death in him. I will therefore chastise him,
and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the chief priests prevailed, and Pilate gave sentence
that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him
that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they
had desired, but he delivered Jesus to their will." This great
crowd of people. And as they led him away, they
laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country. And
on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
And there followed him a great company of people and of women,
which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them
said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming,
in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the
wombs that never bear, and the paps which never gave suck. Then
shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to
the hills, cover us. For if they do these things in
a green tree, if they do these things while life is here, what
shall be done in the dry? And there were also two other
male factors led with him to be put to death. And when they
were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they
crucified him and the male factors, one on the right hand and the
other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do. This crowd of people who hated
Him, hated Him, wanted Him dead. As He was hanging on that cross,
He said, Father, forgive them. You know what that was? That
was tender mercy and loving kindness. That's what that was. Do you think they were? as our Lord hung on the tree and prayed to the Father on their
behalf. Father, forgive them. Do you
think they were forgiven? Quickly hold your place and turn
to Acts chapter 3. Acts 3. Look at verse 12. When Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people, You men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why
look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness
we had made this man to walk? the God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers hath glorified His Son
Jesus, whom you delivered up." You were that crowd of people.
You were the ones who delivered Him up and denied Him in the
presence of Pilate when he was determined to let Him go. 14 says, But you denied the Holy
One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto
you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from
the dead, whereof we are witnesses. Verse 19 says, Repent ye therefore,
and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
Chapter 4 verse 1 says, And as they spake unto the people, the
priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came
upon the apostles, being grieved that they taught the people,
and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And
they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next
day, for it was now eventide. Howbeit many of them which heard
the word believed. And the number of the men was
about 5,000 out of that great crowd of people
who grabbed the Lord, took Him to Pilate and said, I hate Him. God saved 5,000 of them. Chapter
4 verse 31 says, And when they had prayed, the place was shaken,
where they were assembled together, And they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and
of one soul. Neither said any of them that
all of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had all
things common, and with great power gave the apostles witness
of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon
them all. Chapter 5 verse 11 says, And
great fear came upon all the church. That crowd of people who took
our Lord to Pilate and hated Him and screamed crucify Him
was the early church. That was the beginning of the
New Testament church. Those were the people. Don't
you love that? Isn't that just like our Lord?
To save the worst of the worst? The chief of sinners? The vilest
offenders? I'm saving you. You're my people. I'm your God. Mercy's come to
you. That's unconditional. Now, very
quickly, I'm very sorry I've run so long. Back to Luke 23.
We're going to close. Luke 23 verse 34, Then said Jesus,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they
parted his raiment and cast lots. And the people stood beholding,
and the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved
others, let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of
God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering
him vinegar and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save
thyself. And a superscription also was
written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews.
As he hung there, he watched the people holler, crucify him,
I hate him. You are not God. Hurling sin
into his face. All the while he was hanging
there, he knew, these are the people that I'm dying for. These
are the sins that I'm dying for. As they hurled them into his
face, They were stacking up on his shoulders. Everyone, he was
watching them. That wasn't done in private,
that was done out in the open. Oh, the shame. Stacking up on
his shoulders. They had already been forgiven.
He said, Father, forgive them. They were forgiven. Now he knew,
I'm taking these sins to a place far away that they'll never be
remembered again. Never again. Verse 39 says, one
of the male factors, which were hanged, railed on him saying,
if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. Matthew's account says,
both of the thieves railed on him. As he listened to them holler
out, he has two thieves on each side saying, you're not God.
You are not God. If you're God, then save me. You get down and you save me
if you're God. You are not God. And I believe that our Lord,
in mercy, turned and looked at one of those thieves. And I believe the Word of God
looked straight into his soul. and pierced his heart, pierced
his soul without saying a word. He said, I am your God. And that thief realized you are
God. You are God. I'm a sinner. Look at me. Look at where I am. Look at what
my sin has done to me. Look at where it's gotten me.
This is it. I'm dead. I'm a sinner. I deserve this. I see God. I see God in the face of Jesus
Christ. I see my hope of salvation in
the fact that this man is dying on this cross. It says in verse 39, one of the
male factors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou
be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Does not thou fear God? Seeing thou art in the same
condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward
of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said
unto Jesus, Lord, You're my Lord. You're my God. I believe You are God manifest
in the flesh. I believe You are going back
up to Your Father. Lord, remember me when Thou comest
into Thy kingdom. Lord, I'm dying. Today's it for me. I'm a sinner. I'm a dead man. And you're my only hope. My only
hope is that you will take the soul that you put in my body
back with you to God and speak for me on my behalf. Lord, would
you hold my soul? Hold my soul. Would you remember
me? Verse 43, And Jesus said unto
him, Verily I say unto thee, Today you are going to be with
me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour,
and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent
in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with
a loud voice, He said, Father, into thy hands I commend My Spirit."
He said, Father, I'm going to do the work which Thou has given
Me to do. Would You hold my soul? Father, into Thy hands I commend
My Spirit. And having said thus, He gave
up the ghost. Unto Thee do I lift up my soul. That's an awesome thought to
me. Now when the centurion saw what
was done, he glorified God and he said, certainly, that's a
righteous man. Three remembers every sinner
needs. Remember your tender mercy and
your loving kindness that's been ever of old. Please remember
not the sins of my youth or my transgressions. And Lord, remember
me. When You come into Your Kingdom,
please remember me. I pray the Lord would bless His
Word and bless that message. Let's stand together and be dismissed
in prayer.