51. Psalm 51. And I did forget to print the
bulletins today. I forgot all about it. Vicki
forgot about it. She's in on it too. Not just me. It's what Adam said,
wasn't it? Rhonda asked me for the bulletins.
That's the first time I completely forgot about it. Of course, most
of you receive it through the internet, you know, but anyway. Psalm 51. What a real conviction of sin
looks like. What a real conviction of sin
looks like. Every sinner whom the Lord saves,
experiences conviction of sin to some degree. While the depth
of that conviction may vary from sinner to sinner, and it will,
we must be careful not to compare our experiences with others experience. but instead measure them by the
Word of God. And I cannot think of any portion
of Scripture to turn to that defines by experience what conviction
is in Psalm 51. We can read it, we can hear it,
And we can say in a measure, I can identify with David. I can identify with David. Conviction
of sin is the work of the Holy Spirit. It's not my work as a
pastor. My work as a pastor is to deliver
the message. Or anyone who stands here to
preach the gospel is to deliver the message. That's my responsibility.
I'm a messenger, that's all I am. I'm not a convictor. It's the
Holy Spirit who convicts of sin, who reveals to us the reality
and nature of sin and the standard of righteousness that God demands,
and how that righteousness is fulfilled and provided in the
Lord Jesus Christ. WE HAVE A CONVICTION OF SIN,
WE HAVE A CONVICTION OF OUR NEED OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND WE HAVE
A CONVICTION OF THE CERTAINTY OF JUDGEMENT. AND HOW THAT JUDGEMENT
FELL ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ON CALVARY'S TREE. WE SEE THAT. THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTS US OF
JUDGEMENT. JUDGEMENT IS A SURE THING FOR
US. AND THEN HE TAKES US TO CALVARY AND HE SHOWS US that the judgment
of God, the wrath of God on our sins, us who believe, fell on
His Son. He took our judgment at Calvary. And as we grow and mature in
Christ, so does our understanding of sin deepen. You know, it goes from this,
and I know this from experience, it goes from sins that I have
done to sin what I am. It goes to what I am. Born in
sin, shapen in iniquity, that's me. That's me. It leads us to a more accurate
judgment of ourselves as we grow in grace and knowledge of Christ.
We begin to really see ourselves accurately in the light of God's
Word. In the light of His Word. And
we get a clearer view of God's holiness and of His grace to us in Christ,
which leads to a greater appreciation for the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We don't get tired of Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ never becomes light bread, never becomes light
bread. like that man did in the wilderness
to the children of Israel. They called it light bread. We
don't call Jesus Christ light bread, we call Him the bread
from heaven, a necessity, and we need Him. Now David here is
the example, God's given us an example of what true repentance
is. And the first thing we see in
David here, this is when he sinned with Bathsheba. And he premeditatedly
had her husband killed. That's about as bad as it gets. But what he does here is that
he comes to the throne of grace and he starts out and he asks
God for one thing. His first request is this, mercy. I AM ASKING YOU WHAT I AM ABOUT
TO ASK YOU. I DON'T DESERVE. BLOT OUT MY TRANSGRESSIONS. CLEANSE
ME. I DON'T DESERVE WHAT I'M ABOUT
TO ASK YOU. That's the first thing a sinner
understands. That's the first thing we understand
when God convicts us of sin. We don't deserve what we are
asking for. FORGIVENESS. Blot out our transgressions,
many of them, all of them, all of them. Have mercy upon me,
O God. If you don't know how to pray,
this is enough. This is enough. Have mercy upon
me. The best thing any sinner can
do is to throw themselves on the mercy of God. who delights
to show mercy. You know, it says God delights
to show mercy. And we are to throw ourselves
upon the mercy of God, knowing we don't deserve His mercy. We
deserve condemnation. That's a real conviction. We
deserve condemnation. I know that. And some of you
know that. You deserve it. You know it.
It's not just a biblically teaching that you know, you know in your
heart you deserve to be condemned by God. You know it. You're asking God to pardon you,
to have mercy upon you, and you know that His pardon is a sovereign
act. He doesn't have to. Well, that
is the first thing I realized when I heard the gospel, when
I heard Henry preaching the gospel, when God brought it to me in
power, the first thing I learned, God, you don't have to save me.
That was burned into my heart. I mean, that was burned into
me. You don't have to save me. Everybody's telling me, God wants
to save you. God wants to save you. And then
I learned He doesn't have to save me. It's a sovereign act
of God. It's a sovereign act. And I know
that if He has mercy upon me, His mercy upon me is going to
flow from His lovingkindness. That's what David said, Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness. Mercy
flows from the lovingkindness of God. It doesn't flow because
I merited it or because I've been pretty good, but I stumbled.
I messed up. I am a mess. I didn't just mess
up. I am a mess. a mess but God through
God's loving-kindness He has mercy. Now we've heard this many
times and I'm going to repeat it. Grace is God giving us what
we don't deserve. Mercy is God withholds what we
do deserve that's mercy. And then the second thing that
he asks for, and every sinner asks for this, BLOT OUT MY TRANSGRESSION. Not only have mercy on me, but
BLOT OUT, WIPE AWAY, COMPLETELY WIPE AWAY MY TRANSGRESSIONS,
plural, all of them. According to the multitude of
thy tender mercy, David is fully aware of his many sins. Many
sins, more than you can count. My sins are more than the hairs
of my head. They're innumerable, innumerable. However many seconds there are
in my life, however long I live, however many seconds are in my
life, that's how many sins I have. We sin every second. That's not
an exaggeration. And David's fully aware of his
sins. But I'll tell you something else that he's aware of, and
God made him aware of it. Because when the Holy Spirit
brings a real conviction of sin, He does convict us of sin. But
He also shows us the mercy of God in Christ. If not, it would
lead to despair. We would die of despair if He
didn't show us God's mercy in Christ. So we are aware of the
abundant mercy of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell
you another reason He asked God for this, because He has experienced
God's mercy many times in the past. How many times have we
experienced God's mercy? How many times have we fallen
and failed and sinned and yet the Lord's had mercy on us and
He's restored the joy of salvation. You see, we know from past experience
that the Lord is merciful. He hasn't cut us off. You're
here, aren't you? You're here, you're sitting here
listening to the gospel. He hasn't cut you off. He hasn't
cut me off. David begs for complete removal
of sin. Not even a trace of sin to be
left. HE KNOWS THAT MORE THAN JUST
FORGIVENESS IS NEEDED, HE NEEDS IT, I NEED IT, BUT I ALSO NEED
THE COMPLETE REMOVAL OF MY SIN. Listen to these scriptures here,
Isaiah 43, 25. I, even I, this is God speaking,
am he that blotteth out thy transgressions. FOR MY OWN SAKE. That's the reason
I do it. You're my children, you're my
children, but I blot out your transgressions for my own sake.
Scripture says, LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SINS. AND WILL NOT REMEMBER THY SINS. I will not, I will not remember
thy sins. Isaiah 44 21 22 Remember these,
O Jacob and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed
thee, I made you, I made you a believer, I made you a son,
a daughter, I made you. I have formed thee, thou art
my servant, O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. You might
forget me, I might get Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's or dementia. I may forget God. I may do that. He won't. He will not forget
me. Now which is the most important?
Him not forgetting me. That's the most important. And
he says here in verse 22, I have blotted out as a thick cloud
thy transgressions. And as a cloud thy sins, David
knew this, return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Return
to me, I have taken care of your sins. I have put them away, now
return to me, come to me. That's what he's saying, come
to me. You know what's sad is when we do sin and we are very
aware of it, we have a tendency not to go to God. All you have
to do is read Psalm 32 which is supposedly written about David's
writing about his experience with Bathsheba and he tried not
to do anything about it. He said, I kept silence. I just
won't do it no more. That doesn't put it away. I won't do it no more. Turn over to Psalm 32. Let me
read that. I'm going to start to quote it,
but it's better to read it. Look in verse 3, Psalm 32. We have a tendency to just say, Well, I won't do it
no more. But listen, he said, When I kept silence, My bones
waxed old through my roaring all the day long. Do you remember
in Psalm 51, it says, to heal the bones that thou hast broken.
He said, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture's
turned into the drought of summer. And then verse five, and I acknowledge
my sin unto thee. My iniquity have I not hid. Oh, return to me, He said. I've
redeemed thee. Listen to Hebrews 10 and 17.
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. How gracious, how merciful is
that? How merciful. These scriptures teach us that
God is plenteous in mercy as well as redemption. And every
sinner whom God saves. Every sinner knows they need
forgiveness. That's how it starts. I need to be forgiven. I need
to be pardoned. And then you realize, I need
to be justified. I need to be clear of all these
charges. They need to be wiped off the book. And then he pleads here, listen,
in verse 2, WASH ME THROUGHLY. I NEED MERCY. I NEED FORGIVENESS AND I NEED
TO BE WASHED AND CLEANSE ME FROM MY SIN. WASH ME. You see, sin
pollutes everything. Sin pollutes everything. When
we sin, it pollutes everything about us, you know that? It does,
it pollutes everything about us. It pollutes the soul, pollutes
the body, the mind, the affections, and even our best deeds, Isaiah
said, are as filthy rags. Sin pollutes everything. It pollutes
everything. I thought of this this morning,
wrote this down. The filth of sin starts within
and oozes out and defiles the skin. It starts within, oozes out,
and defiles the skin, the body. The Pharisees only cleansed the
outside of the cup. Remember, our Lord said to them,
you cleanse the outside of the cup, but the inside is full of
dead men's bones. And David said, he washed me
throughly, thoroughly, throughly inside and out. Wash me inside
and out. You see, the Pharisees cleansed
the outside of the cup, ignoring the inside of the cup. They thought
as long as they didn't TAKE THEIR THOUGHTS AND TURN THEM INTO ACTIONS,
THEY WERE FINE. But the Lord exposed their hearts. He said, TO LOOK ON A WOMAN,
THE LUST AFTER HER IS ADULTERY. TO HATE YOUR BROTHER WITHOUT
A CAUSE IS MURDER. Now that gets everybody, doesn't
it? And so I've never done that. Oh, you're in trouble. You're
in trouble. because everybody everyone else
has done that everyone else is from the heart have committed
a multitude of sins that's a cesspool in there that natural heart that
natural heart is a cesspool of sin that's what it is and only
God can wash us in the blood of the lamb and put away our
sins David's fear is not just punishment
driven. He's burdened by the guilt and
uncleanness of his sins. I did it and I cannot undo it. Now when God makes you to understand
that, you're guilty. You can take the whole universe.
You can take the earth, the moon, the stars, trillions of them,
and all of them put together are not as heavy as a guilt of
sin. There's nothing heavier than
a guilt of sin when God convicts you of it. and makes you to know
you're guilty, you can't undo it. I did it. David's like, I
did it, I committed adultery. One of the worst things I think,
if you and I are going to catalog sin, and you think of the worst
sin, I think to me, adultery, the affair of the heart, is as
bad as it gets. And if you read the scripture
spiritually, that's so. Spiritually, that's so. God said,
I'm a jealous God. Now there is a right jealousy
and there's a wrong jealousy. And God's jealousy is a right
jealousy. He's not going to put up with idols. He's not going
to put up with my heart and your heart going after something else
more than Him. Christ said, you can't love mother,
father, sister, brother more than me. He didn't say you can't
love them as much as you love me. You know, I have no doubt
that the Lord would be pleased if I loved you as much as I love
Him. And you love me as much as you love Him, but not more.
But not more, because whatever is more, that's what you'll worship. You'll worship what's more than
Christ. And then, listen here, he says,
Make me to know wisdom. Here's another plea. This shows
the spiritual wisdom he already has. The things he's asking for
show the spiritual wisdom he has. God has taught this man.
You know, I need forgiveness. I need God to blot out my transgressions,
but I need God to give me wisdom. You know, there have been many
a times I've asked the Lord, forgive me of my sins and enable
me not to do them again. I don't want to be a repeat offender,
though we are oftentimes, but yet. Give me the wisdom, give
me the wisdom to recognize sin. Give me the wisdom. I need spiritual
understanding of the real nature of sin and who I'm sinning against. I need that. Give me wisdom to
understand sin, to see it when it's happening or before it happens.
Paul told Timothy, SHUN EVERY APPEARANCE OF EVIL! FLEE! Give
me the wisdom to recognize it! You know we recognize evil like
in drunkenness and drugs and you know all this prostitution
or whatever. There is no more evil sin than
self-righteousness and we can fall into that so easy. It can just creep up on us LORD GIVE ME THE WISDOM TO RECOGNIZE
IT, AND GIVE ME THE WISDOM, LISTEN, NOT TO TAKE SIN LIGHTLY, NOT
TO TAKE THESE THINGS LIGHTLY. JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR MY SINS,
I SHOULDN'T TAKE IT LIGHTLY TO SIN. OUR SINS ARE AGAINST GOD, AND
GOD BEING A JUST GOD, HE HAS TO PUNISH SIN, HE HAS TO. And we were born in sin and only
God can teach us the truth about sin and about our hearts, really. Jeremiah said this, Jeremiah
17, nine, the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately
wicked, who can know it? Well, if I know my heart, that's
the last thing you know. The last thing, I'm not talking
about that new heart, I'm talking about that old heart you're born
with. The last thing you know is your heart. If you did know
it, you'd run to God. Lord, save me from that. Give
me a new heart. And David will ask for this here
in a minute. But this here, make me to know
wisdom. I can say this too. Make me to know Christ, who's
the wisdom of God. make me to know the Lord Jesus
Christ reveal Christ to my heart reveal Christ crucified to me
give me a greater understanding of the cross of the Christ on
the cross give me a greater understanding and then he let's hear what he
pleads for purge me with hyssop and i shall be clean now he's
Now he's talking about the way God can blot out his transgressions. He said, blot out my transgressions.
Now here's the way he can do it. By the blood. By the blood. Now he looks to
the blood sacrifice, the only way to be purged. Listen to Hebrews
1.3. Who being, that is Christ being,
the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His
person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when
He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on high, but He purged our sins on Calvary's
tree, He bled for you and me who believe. Everyone whom he saves he bled
for you That blood came out of him because of your sins and
it come out of him to make atonement for your sins David understood the substitutionary
atonement of the Lamb of God and he understood his need of
it And then he makes here in verse 8 and 9, he makes a plea
for the restoration of his hearing. Was it in Hebrews that Paul said
that you have become dull of hearing? You know, here's what sin does.
Sin dulls our spiritual ears. And we really don't hear the
gospel. We don't hear the voice of God in it no more. We're not
moved by it. We don't have rejoicing in it
like we used to. Make me to hear joy and gladness. You see, sin robs us of joy and
gladness. Guilt silences our praise. It shuts us up. But when forgiveness comes, joy
is restored as well as praise. We are joyful in the Lord again
and we praise Him as we ought to again when the Lord restores
that. But sin robs us of it. Oh, it
robs us of it. It's a thief. It's like a thief
that slips in the house and takes all you have. And then he says here in verse
10, he asked for the Lord to do something in him. You see, he said, blot out my
transgressions. Wash me throughly. Wash me throughly. He says here,
make me to hear joy and gladness. Lord, restore my hearing. But
then he says here, he's asking the Lord to do something in him. You see, salvation is not just
a work for us, it's also a work in us. It's also a work in us. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. Forgiveness I need,
yes. Pardon, yes. Justification, yes. But there needs to be a new creation.
You see, God, salvation IS NOT RENOVATION. SALVATION IS NOT
RENOVATION. I know, you know, I watch HGTV
at times and they have a lot of renovation going on in these
old houses. God's not renovating an old house.
You know what He says in the Scripture? BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL
THINGS NEW, INCLUDING YOU. INCLUDING YOU. I MAKE ALL THINGS
NEW. He's not renovating the old heart. He's not renovating
my attitude. He's creating in me a clean heart,
a right heart. I need a heart different than
the one I was born with, the one I was born in sin and shaping
in iniquity in. I need one from you. I need you
to do something for me. And only you, listen, can create. Only God can create this. This
is a creation. You know that every one of you
who believe the gospel, you're born of God, you literally are
a new creation. A new creation in Christ Jesus. Make me clean, blot out my transgressions
and give me a new heart. Give me a new heart. and renew
a right spirit you know I constantly need to be renewed listen to this 2nd Corinthians
4 16 which calls we faint not but though our outward man perish
yet the inward man is renewed day by day I need God to Give me a renewing
of my mind, of thoughts, daily, I need that daily. And then he says here, I mean you realize this when God
saves you, this is something you realize, cast me not away. Cast me not away. I've told you
so many times. Cast me not away from thy presence
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. But I've told you so
many times that scripture over in John. Lord, you said he that
cometh to you, you will in no wise cast out. Cast me not away. Don't shut the door on me. You
know, when God shut the door of that ark, no one else entered
in. Don't shut the door of birth
hell on me. I understand if you do, but I
beg you not, I beg you not, don't cast me away. Cast me not away from thy presence.
Don't run, don't run me off. You know, some of them, he's
going to say, depart from me. I never knew you. I never knew
you. He pleads. Here's what he's pleading
for. Don't give me over to a reprobate
mind. What I did was reprobate. Adultery. Murder. That's the action of
reprobation. Don't turn me over to that. save me from that. Don't take
the Holy Spirit away from me. Don't take His guidance away
from me. Don't take His influence away from me. You know He's the
one who convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Don't take that
away from me. Don't take conviction away from
me. Lord, convict me of my sins. You know that's not a one-time
act like faith is not a one-time act. I have believed, I believe,
and I shall believe. CONVICTION OF SIN IS A LIFELONG
THING! WE MATURE IN CONVICTION OF SIN,
WE HAVE A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF IT, BUT DON'T TAKE IT AWAY. YOU KNOW WHAT, ONE OF THE WORST
THINGS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU? HERE'S ONE OF THE WORST THINGS
THAT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU. IF YOU COULD NOT FEEL PAIN, PUT YOUR HAND ON A HOT OVEN OR
A HOT STOVE. Light a fire and put your hand
in it. One of the best things God has
given us as a human being is the feeling of pain. Because
pain says something is wrong. And conviction, real conviction,
real Holy Spirit conviction causes heart pain. It causes us to feel
our sins. to know it and to feel it. And
the only one who can deal with that is God. God is the only one who has the
balm of Gilead. It's the only one who can make
that go away properly. You know, when I have a conviction
of sin, I don't want somebody else to try to try and put it
away. Oh, that's all right. Don't worry about it. We all
do that. Well, we all go to hell too if God doesn't save us. I don't want anybody to put away
my conviction of sin. I don't want anybody to give
me peace, but God. I want God to give me peace,
nobody else. Because if he does, it'll last
and it's real. And David said, you know, David
was so broken and so thankful. One time he said, Lord, just
let me be a doorkeeper in your house. Just let me be the doorkeeper. That's all. I was watching Carl
back there a while ago, just as time was getting ready to
start. Carl's looking at the doors and he got up and he shut
the doors. The doorkeeper. the DOORKEEPER! That's one of the greatest responsibilities
in here, is the DOORKEEPER! Let me just be a DOORKEEPER! And then He prays here for RESTORATION,
I'm going to wind this down. RESTORE UNTO ME THE JOY OF THY
SALVATION. Well, you can just see this as
it just goes along, you know, it's mercy, blot out, cleanse
me, throughly, you know, make me to know, hear joy, the joy
of thy salvation. Now restore to me the joy of
thy salvation. Let me rejoice again. Now listen,
let me rejoice again when I hear the gospel preached. Don't let
me sit there deadheaded. Don't let me sit there deadheaded. You see sin is like a thief robbing
us of joy, robbing us of finding any real joy in the gospel, in
Christ who is the gospel. And he longs here that God would
restore that joy like the sunshine after the rain. That's what he
wants, give me that sunshine after the rain. joy is the fruit
of forgiveness joy is the fruit of pardon and joy is a real comes
from a real sense of being justified in Christ and only God can restore
joy and grant this assurance and he says listen here then
he's asked God to do all these things all these things he has
asked for LORD YOU DO THIS FOR ME, THEN I WILL TEACH TRANSGRESSORS
THY WAYS, THEN I'LL BE QUALIFIED TO TEACH." There's a whole lot
of people teaching that's not qualified in the ministry, and
I'm sure out there in the secular world too, but in the ministry.
I think it was Ralph Barnard who said and believed That what
we call the Sunday School, he said, was one of the great downfalls
of the church. Because there were people put
in that position that's not qualified. You know, you've got a youth.
Well, we've got to have somebody that connects with the youth.
No, you don't. You need somebody that knows
the gospel. You need somebody that knows
the gospel. You need somebody that can take the Word of God
and actually teach it. teach it. And I agree, one of the greatest
downfalls is putting people in a position they're not qualified
for. God didn't call them for that. Trying to fill a position. I'm not trying to fill a position.
God's not trying to fill a position. He calls and He equips. But I
know, listen to what William Huntington said. He said, the
degree SS SINNER SAVED is more needful to teach others than
a M.A. or a D.D. You cannot lead others to grace
unless you've been there yourself. If you have never tasted that
the Lord is gracious, you cannot tell anyone else about Him. If
you've gone to a doctor and that doctor has really helped you
given you the right medication and you've gotten better, you're
going to tell people about that doctor. If you don't know anything about
it, you can't tell about it. You can't tell about it. And
then last of all, here's the last of all. And this, you know, David said,
my sins ever before me, and this is weighing heavy on his sin.
I mean, on his conscience, because he did it. He did it. DELIVER
ME FROM BLOOD GUILTINESS, O GOD. He says here in verse 16, FOR
THY DESIRE IS NOT SACRIFICE, ELSE WOULD I GIVE IT. If there
was a sacrifice that could put this away, I'd give it. If it
was everything I have as a king, I'd give it. But only YOU can
put it away. Only you can put away blood guiltiness,
murder. Murder. Oh God, and make... Verse 14, look at this, "...deliver
me from bloodguiltiness, and over my margin I said, Bloods..."
You know, He not only killed Uriah, He killed a lot of other
people too. David was a warrior, but... "...bloodguiltiness, O
God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness." CLEANSE ME, BLOT OUT MY TRANSGRESSIONS,
DELIVER ME FROM BLOOD GUILTINESS, AND I'LL GIVE YOU THE PRAISE
FOR IT. I'LL GIVE YOU THE PRAISE FOR IT THE REST OF MY LIFE. MY
TONGUE WILL SING OF THY RIGHTEOUSNESS." David had blood on his hands,
but he doesn't hide it now, he doesn't hide it, he confesses
it and says, only you can put it away. Verse 17, THE SACRIFICES OF GOD
ARE A BROKEN SPIRIT. David said, If you desire a sacrifice,
I'll give it, but here's the sacrifice. THE SACRIFICES OF
GOD ARE A BROKEN SPIRIT. And only God can give that. Only
God can give that. A broken and contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise You know what he despised? A
proud heart and a proud look. The ceremonies of religion cannot
touch this. Only God can remove our sins. Listen to this in closing. Can
we identify with David in this psalm? I can identify with him. And I know we all identify in
a measure because God has allowed some of his children to go deep
into that cesspool of sin and some haven't gone by action that
deep into it but we can identify with him this kind of brokenness
and faith and dependence on the mercy of God only comes by real conviction
of sin and a real conviction of sin, listen, brings real repentance,
not a false repentance, but a real godly sorrow. Lord, forgive me,
I'm guilty, I did it, and only you can put it away. That is
what a real conviction of sin looks like. It's not repeat after me. You
can repeat after me all day and that thing won't do anything
for you. If you repeat it after me, write me a letter, send me
a check. That's what the TV evangelists
are after. But a real conviction of sin is of God and will always
bring you to Christ. Always.