Turn to Psalm 51. Psalm 51. Let me say this before I forget
it. I was going to be here Thursday evening, but I think better heads
have prevailed. Wisdom. It's a lot of driving
for me to go home tonight and come back. And then I got to
go to Danville next weekend. I'll be there. So this Thursday,
I won't be here. But the next Thursday, we'll
be back on track. And then Don will be here that
following. No, wait a minute. That next
Thursday, we're not going to have a midweek service, are we? All right, I won't be here this
Thursday. The next Thursday, we won't have
a service because Don Fortner will be here. He'll be here Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday. Got it? Alright. Paul Mayhem will be
here next Sunday to preach. This is
something I had scheduled. I canceled six appointments,
but I kept this one. And then I kept Don coming here
on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on August 4th, 5th, and 6th.
Alright, Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of Thy tender
mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from my iniquity.
Cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sins ever before me. Against Thee and 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, give attention to this, I was shapen 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 hissing, 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 hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins and blot out, wipe them out, all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me, a constant spirit,
steadfast, Spirit, 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, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure
unto Zion, Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou
be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt
offering and whole burnt offering. Then shall they offer bullocks
upon thine altar. Let's pray. Our Father, which
art in heaven, hallowed, holy be thy name. Enable me to rightly
divide the word of truth, Make Thy Word and make me a blessing
to these people this morning. Lord, help us to worship You. Help us to give unto You the
glory due unto Your name this hour. This is the reason we've
gathered here to honor Thee, to praise Thee, and to be instructed
by Thee. Teach us, Lord, by Thy Spirit.
Leave us not to ourselves. Lord, we don't want this to be
just another religious service, to truly be a worship service.
Let it be known that we are Thy people and You are our God. Be with us this morning. Let
Thy presence be known here this morning. In Christ's name we
pray, and amen. The title of the message, A Mercy
Beggar's Prayer. This is a mercy beggar's prayer. When I read this psalm, I can
feel it. You can feel it. If you know
anything of the mercy of God, the grace of God, forgiveness
of sins, if you know anything about it, you can feel what David
is saying here. This is also a child of God. This is a child of God who's
following. And I mean fallen hard. He's brought reproach on the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God. And He knows it. For some time, He actually tried
to hide this sin. This fall, He tried to hide it. Look over in Psalm 32. Let me
show you something here. You know, the Scripture says,
he that covers his sin shall not prosper. And David, in Psalm
32, listen to this. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. He knew something about that,
didn't he? You who believe God, you know
something about that. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no God. Now listen to verse 3. When I
kept silence, my bones whacked old through my roaring all the
day long. For day and night Thy hand was
heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. This is the same situation David
tried to hide what he did with Bathsheba. He tried to hide what
he did to her husband Uriah. He had him murdered. This is
a child of God. It's amazing, isn't it? And he tried to hide it, and
he said, when I kept silent, he said, my bones roared within
me. It was eating me up. It was eating
me up. Until Nathan came along, God
sent Nathan to him. He let David stew and he let
David go through this inward torment while he's trying to
hide his sin. He's trying to hide it. And Nathan
comes to him and says, Thou art the man. And that's when David
broke. That's when he broke and he quit
trying to hide it. And he fell on his face before God. And Psalm
51 came out of that. Psalm 51. What we have here is
the essence of true repentance. Right here. A real confession of sin. When true repentance happens,
there is a real confession of sin. What I am, All that I've
done. And we'll see this as we go along. David makes no excuse for it.
He doesn't blame God. He doesn't blame Bathsheba. He
blames himself. He takes full responsibility. True repentance has never happened
until you and I take absolute responsibility for every action. I'm not going to blame anybody
in my past, my environment, or anything. It's me. It's who I
am. It's what I am. Now let's look at the mercy beggar
here. The first thing he says here is, have mercy. He's not going to plead his merit.
He's not going to plead his position as a king. David is the king. He's going to plead just for
mercy. Unmerited favor of God. David had drank at this fountain
before. And he knew this, he knew that God delighteth to show
mercy. He's the one that said that.
He delighteth to show mercy. God delights to show mercy more
than you and I will ever delight to have it. I wish I could get
a hold of that. He delights to show it more than
I will ever delight to have it. If you and I could grasp what
that means, when it delights God, when it pleases God to do
something, that's on a level you and I can't even think on. And David says here, have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Thy loving kindness. He's not
going to ask God to do something that is ungodlike, but something
that is just like Him to do. Forgive and blot out. according
to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your..."
And He didn't just say mercy. He said, "...your tender mercies."
Your tender mercies. And here's His request. Blot
out. Wipe out what I have done. This act of adultery. You know
that there was Two things given or that could be done, and there
was no sacrifice given for it. And David did both of them. If
you committed murder, your life was to be taken. If you committed
adultery, you were to be stoned. Because David says over here
in verse 7, let me find the verse. He said in verse 16, For thou
desirest not sacrifice, else I would give it. Whatever sacrifice
I had to make for what I have done, I would give it. But you've not given one. But
there is one. There is one. Jesus Christ. He can put away absolutely every
sin. Every sin. But blot out my transgressions. Wipe them off the books. You
know it says in judgment, it says the books are going to be
opened. And they're going to be judged out of the books. Everything,
every thought is right there. And he says wipe it off, wipe
it clean. And he's not asking God to do something that he can't
do. He knows God can do this. David is confident that God can
wipe away this vile, this wretched act that he has committed. And then he asked God to do something
else here. Brought out my transgression, wiped it away, but also wash
me. Look at this. Wash me throughly.
Wash me inside and out. My problem is inside. Don't just
wash the outside of the cup. Wash me throughly. Inwardly. Cleanse me inwardly. That's where
all my sin comes from. None of my sin comes outwardly.
It all flows from inside. And out, comes out. But wash
me. You know the Lord, one time was
washing the disciples' feet. And Peter said, no, you're not
gonna do that to me. You're not gonna do that. He
said, Peter, if I don't wash you, you have no part with me.
And Peter said, well then, if that's the case, wash me all
over. He said, no, don't need to do that. If you've been washed,
you don't need to wash all over, save your feet. You and I live
in this world. We live in a sinful body. We
have a sinful nature that's still with us. And it's just as wretched
as it ever was. And we need washing. As we walk
through this world, as we go through this daily life, I need
cleansing. I read it to you last week. Wherewith
shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to your Word. to thy word, wash me. The word
of God has a washing effect about it, you know that? It does, it
has a washing effect about it. And then he says here in verse
3, he confesses his sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions.
We saw back in chapter 32, he tried to keep silent. He tried
to hide it. He tried not to deal with it.
You know, time does not put away sin. Not doing it anymore doesn't
put it away. I used to tell my mother, she
gave us most of the whipping. And she would give me a whipping,
I'd be dancing around, she had a switch, and I imagine, I was
born back in those days, when they used a switch. And I had
to go cut it. And I'd be dancing around saying,
I won't do it no more, I won't do it no more. I did. I did it again. I did it again. He says here, I acknowledge my...
I did it. I did it. I'm not going to make excuses
for it. I'm not going to lie about it. God knows my heart. One time
me and my brother slipped off and went swimming. Not supposed
to. Dad told us, don't you do that. Slipped down to the creek
and goes, well, he did anyway when he went to work. Well, he
came home early. And we saw him, car passed by the creek. And
we took off running to the house trying to beat him. He got there
and he said, boys, you been swimming? We said, no. We were dripping
wet. I mean, I look back now, I look
back now, how stupid was that? But that's what, see it'll dumb
you down. It'll dumb you. But we said no. We're standing
there wet. And well, we got it. Lying all. Might as well just told the truth.
But David says here, I acknowledge my transgressions. I acknowledge
them. And my sin is ever before me. What I have done, David never
forgot what he did He never left his mind. He knew it. I Guarantee
you every time somebody committed a murder He knew what that was Every time
adultery he's the king, you know, he probably had to deal some
of these things He did it You know, I realize this This is
some time that's gone by. I realize that there's a whole
host of people in hell that has done the same things I have. Did the same things. Committed
the same sins. And why am I not there? The grace
of God. That's why I'm not there. He'll have mercy on whom he'll
have mercy. My sin is ever before me, but
here's what I thank God for. It's never before Him. It's not
ever before Him. It's gone. But now here's the evil. Here's
the evil of sin. Against thee. Here's the real
evil of sin. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. You know He sinned against Uriah.
You know He sinned against that family and having Him killed. You know He did. But in comparison
to our sins, being against God who is holy, there can be no
comparison. That's why He says, against thee
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil with you looking
on. And basically saying, right in
your face. Right in your face. Knew better. But here's what true repentance
does. It justifies God. It justifies God in His judgments
against me. That thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest. If you condemn me, I acknowledge my transgressions.
I'm guilty. I'm guilty. You know, you go
into a court of law right now, 99% of the time the guy that's
guilty says, I'm not guilty. But in heaven, those whom the
Lord saves, they say, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. And whatever you
do with me, Whatever you do with me, you're
right. You're right. God can do no wrong. We have to understand who God
is. God is light, John says, and in Him is no darkness, no
sin at all. He's right. And then He gives you the root
of the problem. The root of my sin problem is this. I was shapen
in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. He's not
saying that the act was bad or the act of being conceived was
sinful. He's saying the seed by which
I was conceived is sinful. We cannot produce righteousness. We cannot produce an offspring
that's holy. We can't do that. You know, if
you go back to Genesis, after it's kind, after it's kind, we
can only produce what we are. That's all we can do. And David
says, And what he's saying here, he's saying, I am a sinful man. You know, Peter said that one
time to the Lord. He said, Lord, depart from me. I am a sinful
man. Sinful man. In sin did my mother conceive
me. The very root of my being, he
says, is sinful. That's why he's acknowledging
it. This is true repentance right here. This is true repentance. And it says here, Behold, thou
desirest truth in the inward parts. God desires honesty. He demands honesty. In the inward parts. Not just to show on the outside.
But on the inside. He says you desire truth on the
inward parts. Well, if I have it, He'll have
to give it. If I have any truth in me, any real honesty in me,
any genuineness in me, it'll be a work of God. It'll be His
work and not mine. And in the hidden part thou shalt
make me to know wisdom. Henry said one time, honest people,
and I didn't understand this when I was a young man, but I
do now. Honest people don't go to hell. They don't. Because if they're honest, God
made them that way. God made them that way. And then David says here, purge
me with hyssop. Now sometimes you want to go
back and look at Exodus chapter 12 at the Passover. They took
hyssop. When they slew the Passover lamb,
they took the blood in a basin. They didn't take their hand and
put in it and then smear it on the side posts and over the top.
They took hyssop. They sprinkled it like that.
And that's what David said. Take hyssop. Sprinkle me with
the blood. Cleanse me with the blood. That's
why he said, Purge! Purge! You know what it is to purge
something? Clean, take away this dross, this sin. Put it away. Lord, put it away. He can do
it. God can put away my sin. No matter how wretched they are. No matter what I have done, God
can put it away. And if you know what sin is,
that's good news. And you have to know what sin
is. to know the good news of that. Purge me with hyssop, and
I shall be clean. Wash me, purge me, wash me, and
I shall be whiter than snow. I tell you the thing that I hear,
that I can hear in verse 7. As far as he's fallen, as hard
as he has fallen, he still knows, he still has confidence, he still
believes that if God will purge him, if God will cleanse him
and wash him, I'll be wet under the snow. Even though what I've
done is so awful, there won't be a spot against
me, a blemish against me, Lord, if you put it away. Now if I
try to hide it, and I try to say, well, I'm just not going
to do that no more. Well, that doesn't put it away. Repentance. Listen. Repentance
over my sins does not put them away. It shows a work of grace
in the heart going on, but only the blood puts it away. The sin I'm confessing is the
sin Christ died for and was punished for. And His blood was shed for. And it's His blood that was shed
for the sin I'm confessing that could put it away. It's already
been dealt with. Nathan said to David, thou shalt
not die. No, but somebody did. Somebody did. And that somebody
is God in human flesh. Make me to hear joy. This is
what sin does. This is the effect of sin. The effect of it. Make me to
hear joy and peace. Down to this point, he's confessed
his sins. He's asked God to put away his
sins. He's asked God to wash him from his sins. And now he's
asking God to make him experience what he's asking for. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Let me enjoy that once again. Sin, listen, as I said in the
Bible class, when God shut Noah in, that's our security. We're
shut up in Christ by God. We can't lose, and the reason
we can't lose our salvation is because it doesn't depend on
me. It never did. It depends on Jesus Christ. But
I can lose the joy of it. I can lose the joy of it. I can
lose the sense of His presence. David said in one place, is the
Lord clean gone? Heaven seems like brass. Make me to hear joy and gladness
at the bones which thou hast broken. A real conviction of sin is painful. It's painful. A real conviction is here. I have to be careful here because
then we start looking at, have I had this painful, painful experience. Some are greater than others.
When we hear of Lydia, it says the Lord opened her heart. But
I assure you after He opened her heart, She began to experience
some of these painful convictions of sin. And hide thy face from my sins.
Don't look at them. Don't look at them. God can't
look at sin with indifference. Hide thy face from my sins. Lord,
He says, speak peace to my heart and don't look at my sins. Don't
look at them. Don't deal with me in justice. Deal with me in mercy. In mercy. That's what He wants. And Lord, create in me a clean
heart. A new heart. A heart that loves
You. A heart that's after You. You know it's said of David,
that he was a man after God's own heart. God answered his prayer,
didn't he? Creating me a clean heart, that's
what I need. I need a clean heart. And a right spirit, a constant,
a steady spirit, not up and down. A spirit that is constantly and
steady after you, Lord, after you. Salvation is God doing business
in the heart. And David knew it. He knew it. And cast me not away from Thy
presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. You reckon when
he says this, cast me not away, that he's thinking of Cain? I bet he's thinking of Cain.
You remember how he slew Abel? His brother. And God cast him
out as a vagabond. He knew. David knew. He was no better than Cain. He
killed his brother. Took his wife. You know, I can't explain how
painful. The pain is going on right here. He knew that God ought to cast
him out just like He did Cain. Put a mark on him. Put a mark
on him. When Peter denied the Lord three
times, three times, you reckon he thought when Judas
denied Him, Betrayed him. You reckon he thought, I'm no better. I'm no better. I know he thought that. Judas
goes out and hangs himself. He's called the son of perdition.
And perishes. And Peter denied him three times.
And the Lord had mercy on him. That's called sovereign mercy.
It's his royal prerogative. to do with His own as He will. His thoughts are higher than
our thoughts and His ways higher than our ways. I can't comprehend
what God's doing. Cast me not away from Thy presence.
Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Don't take away His comforts.
Don't take away His instructions, His teachings, His guiding. Don't
take that away from me. Don't take that away. And restore
unto me the joy of Thy salvation. Restore it. I've lost it by sin
and by trying to cover it up. I've lost it. Put away my sins. Wash me and Lord let me experience
the joy, the joy that I have in You. Once again. Let me experience
that again. Then, listen, He says, if you
do this for Me, Lord, if you do this for Me,
then will I teach transgressors thy ways. You know the best preacher
there is is a sinner. It's one sinner telling another.
That's all. I don't want God to speak to
me by an angel. That angel can't identify with
me. Gabriel cannot identify with
me. That publican can. One transgressor can tell another
transgressor where forgiveness is found. That woman at the well, he said,
you go back. She went back to town. He said,
you go back there and tell them what the Lord has done for you.
And she went back to town and she said, come and see a man. Here's the best way to witness.
Come see a man that told me everything I've ever done. Is not this the
Christ? That demoniac. That's it money. Yeah, the Lord cast out of him
all those demons 12 was a legion a legion of demons I forget how
many there was but he cast him out and he wanted to follow Christ
No, the Lord said you go back to town. I Bet that's one time
that he dreaded going back they put him in a cave and put and
tied his hands and he break him and The Lord cast those demons
out of him. He said you go back and tell
them What great things the Lord's done for you. And He did. He did. We don't need to be theologians. We just need to tell what the
Lord's done for us. That's all. That's all. Just
tell what He's done for us. Then will I teach transgressors
Thy ways, and then sinners will be converted unto Thee. Tell
you something, About somebody I've experienced. Deliver me from blood guiltness
or from bloods. Oh, he said, deliver me from
this that I've done. You remember, he sent Uriah out
there in the hottest part of the battle. He told Joab, he
said, withdraw from him. Leave him out there. Leave him
right there. He never forgot that. although
God didn't remember it anymore. He said, deliver me from that.
Lord, You're the only one that can deliver me from this. Deliver me from blood, guilt,
and soul, God, Thou God of my salvation. You're my salvation. You know salvation is just that.
It's a person. God has become my salvation,
David said in another place. God is my salvation. He doesn't
just give it to me. He's not just giving me salvation.
He is my salvation. And that being so, how secure
is that? If God be for us, who could be against us? And Lord,
open my lips. Remember He said, when I kept
silent, He didn't want to talk. He said, now Lord, open my lips
and I'll tell them. I'll tell them what you've done
for me. I'll sing your praises. I'll speak of your mercies. I'll
show forth thy praise. For thou desirest sacrifice.
For thou desirest not sacrifice. I give it. But I give it. I give it. Thou delightest not
in burnt offerings. Here's what God delights in.
And David knew it. He found it out. A broken heart
and a contrite spirit. A broken heart over sin. A broken
heart over the one I've sinned against. A contrite spirit just
crushed. I mean, broken. Broken. He said, oh God, that
you will not despise. You know why? Because that's
of God. That kind of heart is of God. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
And then in the end of it, he says, Lord, do good to the church.
That's what he's saying. Do good in Thy good pleasure
to Zion, the church. Build Thou up the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with
the sacrifices of righteousness. Burn offerings and hold burnt
offerings. and they shall offer bullocks upon that altar." Worship
will be what it ought to be. That's what he said. He didn't
worship. When God has given us a broken heart, a contrite spirit
over sin, we realize the one we've sinned against, and we
seek His mercy and His grace, and He enables us once again
to sing His praises, to worship Him, That's true repentance. And that
brings true worship. To worship God in spirit and
truth takes a broken heart and a contrite spirit.