We're looking this morning at
the Psalms, Psalm 51. Psalm 51, if you'd like to follow
along. You may or may not know that
this is the Psalm of David after his terrible sin of adultery
with Uriah's wife named Bathsheba. And he suffered great guilt and
shame and consequences because of that terrible sin. And he
wrote this psalm, he prayed this prayer unto God for mercy, for
forgiveness, for cleansing, for washing from the sin that was
ever before him. Did you know that this is one
of the favorite psalms of all of God's true people? Because
all of God's true people know something about their own sinfulness,
feel something of the plague of their own heart. they feel
something of the guilt and the shame because of their sin. Oh,
maybe it's not the particular sin of David, but they certainly
feel the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride
of life. They certainly feel all of guilt
or all sins. They know something of their
own sinful nature. And did you know that this is
one of the favorite Psalms quoted quite often many of the martyrs
that went to their deaths by burning at the stake or hanging
or even being beheaded, that many martyrs went to their deaths
quoting this psalm or having someone read this psalm. Why
is that? Because those who know something
of a holy God and of their own sinfulness know that their greatest
need before they stand before God, their greatest need is for
God to have mercy upon their sinful soul. And so I begin reading. David says, Have mercy upon me,
O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude
of Thy tender mercy. Blot out my transgression. He says, I need mercy, O God,
according to Your lovingkindness. The Lord is full of kindness,
which is another word for mercy. Lovingkindness is an Old Testament
word for grace. According to Your grace, according
to Your mercy, O Lord, look upon me with great mercy and favor
and kindness and be merciful unto me. According to the multitude
of thy tender mercies, Scripture says his tender mercies are over
all his work. But David needed special mercy. He needed mercy for his sinfulness. Mercy means not getting what
we deserve. Oh, if the Lord deals with us
according to our sins, He will cast us out of His presence forever. David knew that. He said, Oh,
have mercy upon me. Blot out my transgressions. Blot
them out. Cover them with the blood of
the atonement. Cover them with the blood of
a lamb. Oh, David knew the Lord Jesus Christ was the Lamb of
God. though he didn't know his name
was Jesus, he knew that the Christ was coming, the Messiah was coming,
the sin offering, the substitute, the Lamb of God to take away
the sin of the world, and David is praying here that he is one
of them, one of those of whom Christ would come to put away
their sins. And so David says, blot out my
transgression. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin." There's only one thing that will
wash away our sin. It will wash away our iniquity. It will cleanse us. And that
is the blood of the Lamb, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So David prays, wash me throughly, completely, thoroughly. inside
and out, cleanse me from my sin. He says, I acknowledge my transgressions. David knew like Paul that in
me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That in ourselves,
by nature, we are full of iniquity and transgressions and sins.
And he said, my sin is ever before me. I believe he's not just talking
about that particular sin of adultery, but his whole sinful
being, the whole nature, the sin that is in him, which he
got from birth, from Adam, original sin, born in sin. It's ever before him, his evil,
sinful, guilty self, is what he's saying. It's ever before
me. I can't get rid of it. Verse 4, he says, "...against
thee, and thee only have I sinned." Now, David knew the consequences
of his sin were great, that he'd sinned against Uriah, he'd sinned
against Bathsheba, he'd sinned against Israel, he'd sinned against
his own wife, he'd sinned against others. But ultimately, it was
God that he sinned against. Because what sin or what iniquity
or what evil it has done on the top side of God's earth and from
any man or woman or young person is against God, against our Creator,
against the Judge of all the earth. It's against Him who says,
Be ye holy, for I am holy. Who says, Thou shalt not, and
thou shalt. So it's first and foremost against
God, our Creator. It's He who we answer to. It's
He that owns us, not we ourselves. He owns us. So all sin is against
Him. And it's in His sight. His eyes
behold, His eyelids try the sons of men. Everything is naked and
open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. So David
says, "...against thee, and thee only, have I sinned, and done
this evil in thy sight." He says, "...thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." David is
saying, if you speak the Word and tell me to be cast out of
your sight in that day, you'll be just. He said, you will be
clear when you judge me and find me guilty and sentence me to
everlasting torment. You will be clear, but have mercy
upon me. Let the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ be propitiation upon the mercy seat for my guilty soul.
Brethren, people, it is the only way that God can have mercy on
a guilty sinner. He says, verse 5, Behold, I was
shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. See,
we're born in sin. We're born dead, as it were,
in trespasses and sin. We come forth from the womb speaking
lies, as Scripture says. Our fathers and mothers are sinners,
and we're born that way. And unless God does something
for us, we'll die in sin. Unless God quickens us with Christ,
gives us new life in Christ, yea, he that hath the Son hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life, is dead and trespassed in sin. He says, David says,
I was shapen, I was born, I was conceived by a sinful mother
and father. I'm a son of Adam, so I'm born
a sinner. Verse 6, he says, Behold, thou
desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part
thou shalt make me to know wisdom. God looketh upon the heart. And
you know what the Scripture says about the heart? It says the
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? Don't plead your heart before
God. Don't say, you don't know my heart. Well, I might not,
but God does. And He looks upon it. And He
must give us a new heart. And you know what the only good
heart is in a sinner? It's a broken and a contrite
heart over sin. To this man will I look, the
Lord said. He is of a broken heart and contrite
heart and spirit and trembleth at my word. Trembleth. That is
the fear of the Lord because of our sinfulness. A sinner in
need of mercy. That was David and that's all
of God's true people who know something of the plague of their
heart. Verse 6, he says, Thou desirest
truth in the inward part. Verse 7, he says, Purge me with
hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. Hyssop. That's what the high
priest would take and dip in the blood of a lamb and sprinkle
that leper who was to be cleansed from his disease. And that represents
Christ and Him crucified. Oh, purge me with hyssop, wash
me in the blood of the lamb, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Verse 8, David goes on to say, Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Make me to
hear joy and gladness. O sinner, O people who hear this,
you know there is only joy and gladness in the Gospel of a full,
free, complete atonement. Purging, washing, forgiveness
of sin, pardon from sin and iniquity through the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only good news for guilty sinners. Joy and gladness
in Christ, the sinner's substitute. In Christ, the blood of the Lamb.
Did you hear that? David said in verse 9, hide thy
face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Blot them out
under the blood. You know, there's a book in heaven
with all the sins of everyone who's not in Christ written down. The book shall be opened someday,
and every man and woman shall be given account of their sins
and be found guilty and cast out of God's presence and punished
everlastingly for those sins. But in the blood of the Lamb,
All the sins of all of God's people from time to eternity
were blotted out. Blotted out. He blotted out all
the sins of all of God's people. Blotted out. Nailed to the cross. Paid in full. David said, Blot
out my iniquity. Create in me a clean heart. Oh,
my heart, David said, I need a new heart, a clean heart. Renew
a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence.
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me." Some say the Holy Spirit
wasn't given until the New Testament. That's not true. David said,
take not thy Holy Spirit from me. And the Holy Spirit takes
the things of Christ and shows them to God's people. That's
what Christ said. And David knew Christ. Yes, he
did. The Holy Spirit taught him. that
the Messiah, the Christ is to come, the only substitute for
sinners, the only cleansing from sin. Oh, don't take the Spirit
from me. Show me my Redeemer, He said.
Like Job, I know my Redeemer living. He says, Restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation. Uphold me with thy free spirit.
Keep me. Restrain me. Then I'll teach
sinners transgressions, transgressors thy way, 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." If God delivers you, you'll be like
David. You'll sing of His righteousness
and His only, of His mercy and His grace, of His salvation,
because you know it was all in His hands. according to His will. Oh Lord, He says, open thou My
lips and I will show forth thy praise, the praise of the glory
of thy grace, for thou desirest not sacrifice. That is, thou
dost not desire what I can bring to you, I would give it, not
burn offering. The sacrifices of God, He says,
are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. O God,
Thou wilt not despise." And David had that. God gave it to him. Do good in Thy good pleasure
unto Zion, unto Thy church, Thy people. Build the walls of Jerusalem,
protect, hedge us about. Then shalt Thou be pleased with
the sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise from God's people
through the blood of the Lamb. Oh, have mercy upon me, was David's
prayer. Is that your prayer? My prayer
is that the Lord will bless this to the conviction of your sin
and to cause you to cry unto mercy unto the Lord, for He will
abundantly pardon. Amen.