I told David, I said, I say bow-wow
to that. I do. I say bow-wow to that. You know, with God, I was thinking
as David was preaching, I was thinking with God, there are
no giants. There are none. What looks like Godzilla to us
is a gecko to God. Just a little lizard. I heard
this story of an English preacher over in England. And after he
had preached the gospel, he came down and one of the ladies there
asked him, she said, Is it okay to pray about little
troubles as well as big troubles? He said, man with God, all our
troubles are little. All our troubles are little.
The greater we see God, the more little these things become. That's
why he tells us to set our hearts on things above and not on the
things of this earth. He made me think of that man
when the Lord touched his eyes. He said, what do you see? He
said, I see men as trees walking. That is a distorted view of men.
And he touched his eyes again. Now what do you see? I see men as men. One thing I've learned about
big men, when they fall, they just make a louder noise. That's
all they do. Turn to Psalm 51. Psalm 51. You know the Word of God is made
up of mountains and valleys. David took us up on the mountain.
Now we're going to go down into the valley a little bit. But
remember this, the water that flows from the mountains flows
into the valley. And we get the same refreshments
from the same stream. Now I do want to express my thanks
and gratitude for your hospitality, Paul Mindy for keeping us. It's
been a joy to be here. This is one of the congregations
that just pulls the gospel out of me. When I stand here and
preach, and I've stood here many times, you just pull it out of
me. And I thank God for you. Now,
the message that I want to look at this morning is repentance
toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a psalm
of repentance. And we see here the spirit of
repentance in this psalm. And every child of God in this
room feels a kindredship with David. You know what he's talking
about. You know what he's talking about.
Some years ago, a lady, a very close lady to me, at my aunt,
she said to me, she said, At home, they call me Johnny.
Somebody calls me Johnny as family or somebody I went to school
with. And she said, Johnny, she said, I want to ask you something.
She goes, I repent, but I can't get anywhere. And she was looking
for a feeling. I know what she was looking for.
She said, I just can't seem to get anywhere. And I said, well,
the word of God teaches this. Repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I said, what you're missing is
Christ. Jesus Christ is the reason, He's
the way God can forgive me of all my sins and still be God. So let's look at this. At the
very top of this psalm, to the chief musician, a psalm of David,
when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone into
Bathsheba. This psalm is a very painful
experience for David. And one of the reasons, or probably
the main reason, is this. He was a child of God. This is
not someone newly come to the faith. This is someone been around
a while. This is someone who knew and
tasted of the grace of God. He had tasted of the mercy of
God. And then to turn and do this,
oh how painful. You can just feel something of
his pain in this. The scripture says this in 1
John 1, 9. And thank God for these scriptures. I sent this
scripture right here to someone that's struggling. And it says,
if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All
of it. You and I are guilty of a lot
more than we know. A lot more. Sovereign constraint, and I realize
this. Sovereign constraint has kept
us from a lot of open sins. A lot of them. And I want you to notice in this
psalm, and this is the spirit of true repentance. David makes
no excuse for his sin. That's the first place we come
to. We make no excuse. He makes no excuse for his sins,
like Adam. Adam, after he had sinned, God
came to him in the garden. And that's the first time it
is recorded. It says Adam said, I was afraid. That's that fear you're talking
about. Sin is the reason why we fear. Sin. And he said, I was afraid. And
you know what else he said after that? The woman that you gave
me. There's the excuse. And he's
blaming God. The woman that you gave me. She
gave me to Eve. Adam, in actuality, is blaming
Eve. This woman that he loved. This
woman that was so beautiful and perfect. He threw her under the
bus. He did. He said, the woman you
gave me. But now David, in this psalm,
has learned, he's taught of God, and he makes no excuse. That
is the first place we come to in repentance. We make no excuse. We don't blame anyone else. I'm
guilty. The hardest thing in the world
for any human to say is, I'm guilty. I mean, you know how
many millions and millions of dollars are spent in court every
year trying to get somebody to say, I'm guilty? I mean millions
is spent just trying to get a guilty plea. Let's look at this. Now, what
we have here is David takes his royal robe off, takes his crown
off, and like a dog, he crawls to his master's feet and he begs
for forgiveness. He begs for mercy. I love the
way this starts out. Have mercy. Have mercy on me. You know what he's saying? The
very first thing he's saying is this. I don't deserve what
I'm about to ask for. When you ask for mercy, you understand
you do not deserve what you're asking for. And you know what? God delights to show mercy. God
delights to give us those things we don't deserve. We don't deserve. You and I don't deserve forgiveness. We deserve exactly what Jesus
Christ got on the cross. That's what we deserve. Mercy is a real attribute of
God. God delights to show mercy. Now listen, no matter how much
you desire mercy, God delights to show it even more. He delights
to show mercy more than you and I will ever delight to have it.
Really. He delights to show mercy. It's
an attribute of God. The Word of God tells us that
He delights not in the death of the wicked. He takes no pleasure
in the death of him that dieth. He doesn't take pleasure and
find satisfaction in our death. There's only one death that he
found satisfaction in. That's the death of Jesus Christ.
Why do you think hell is forever? God's not satisfied with the
death of the unrighteous. He's only satisfied with the
death of Jesus Christ. And that's on our behalf. He says here, have mercy upon
me, O God, according He's not asking God to do something that
is ungodlike. He's asking God to do something
that is according, in line with, in line with, according to thy
loving kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. David calls them tender mercies
because he had tasted of them many times before. They're tender
mercies. Blot out my transgressions. David makes this request. Blot
out my transgressions. Wipe them all away. Take this
away. Put it away. He's asking God to do for him
what no one else can do. There's no sense going to the
priest. There's no sense going anywhere else but to God. God
is the only one who can put sin away. He's the only one. If God does not put away my sins,
if He does not show mercy, He's going to have to put me away.
He's going to have to put me away. But God, who's rich in
mercy, can blot out all my transgressions. He can blot them out. They are
not on the books, you know, in judgment. You know what it says?
He's going to open the books. Every idle thought, every idle
word is going to be brought into judgment. There's nothing on
the books. There's nothing there. It's been
blotted out. Only God can do that. Only God
can do it. Only God can put your sins away. And do it in a just way. There's
no backdoor deals going on. There's no finagling. He just
put them away. And He put them away by Himself. Happy is the sinner that knows
that God can put away his sin. David knew that. He knew that. You know, Nathan said to him,
thou art a man, but you're not going to die.
You are not going to die, David. You deserve to die. You don't
deserve to live. He said, but you're not going
to die. You know what he says? God has put away your sins. How
did he do that? Christ is called the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. My sins were actually
dealt with before creation. Our sins were dealt with by God
before creation. That's how God has put away our
sins. That's why you're not going to die, David. Through the forbearance
of God, Jesus Christ came and he put away that sin, my sins,
and all others of his elect. He's put them away. And then David says this, he
not only says, Lord, blot out my transgressions, wipe them
off the books, but wash me. I not only want them off the
books, I want to experience, I want to experience a cleansing. I need cleansing. I need my sins,
my soul cleansed. Because I didn't just do this
with my body. I did this with my spirit. I
knew what I was doing. I knew what I was doing. Wash
me throughly, I like that word, throughly inside and out. Thoroughly. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. This matter of salvation is more
than just declaring one clean. It's making one clean. That leper
said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And he meant clean in God's sight.
And the Lord said, I will. Be thou clean. He said, I will. He's never,
as that article you got, he's never turned away a sinner, David.
Never turned away a sinner. Turned away some Pharisees. He
told his disciples one time, leave him alone. Thank God he's not left us alone.
He has every right to. God has every right to leave
me alone. But he hasn't. The fact that you're here, and
you're hearing the gospel, God hasn't left us alone. You've
not been left alone. Take that seriously. Take heed
to how you hear, for with what measure you measure it with,
it will be measured to you again. There is a real cleansing from
sin, and it starts within. The work of salvation is within. The evidence of it will come
out in your life, in your conduct, in your conversation. That's
how it will come out. But God cleanses within first. Our Lord said this to the Pharisee.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, for you may clean
the outside of the cup and the platter. I've never done that.
I've kept these from my youth up. Well, that's the outside
of the platter. Let's talk about the inside of it. You know, I
don't care how dirty a cup is on the outside, if you give me
something to drink, as long as the inside is clean. And I ain't
drinking from the outside. I'm drinking from what's on the
inside. He's talking here about the inside. He says, you make, you make,
clean the outside of the cup and the platter. I wouldn't do
that. I'd never do that. Well, that's the outside of the
platter. But within, he says, they're full of extortion and
excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within
the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean
also. You know, there are no good works
from a dirty heart. But when God gives a new heart
and a clean heart, those works are good. They're coming from
a good heart that God has given. By His grace, by His Spirit,
through the work of His Spirit. Brethren, we need not only our
sins blotted out, but we need inward cleansing. My problem
with sin is it comes from within. You're talking about those giants
they were afraid of. I am more afraid of myself than
I am any man. I pray often, Lord, don't turn
me loose on me. I can't whip myself. I cannot
do it. That old nature is too strong
for me. It's been around a lot longer
than I have. And it's too strong for me. And I pray, God, bring
me under your control. Reign, reign the lust of this
flesh in. It's still there. It's still
there. When men think that if they don't
do certain things, they're clean. I don't do this. I don't do that.
I don't drink. I don't cuss. I don't run around with those
women that do. What's that matter? The inside is still dirty. The
inside is still dirty. All the ways, Solomon said in
Proverbs 16, all the ways of man are clean in his own eyes.
But the Lord weigheth the spirits. He weigheth the spirits. He knows
the sincerity of our hearts and of our repentance. You know,
this thing of repentance and faith, they are the gift of God. God granted repentance, it says,
to the Gentiles. He granted it. And it's something
that will be with a believer all the way home. It's not just
something that you did 20 years ago or 10 years ago. It's something
that you do all the way home and it grows stronger and stronger
because you see more of the evil of sin. You see what you are. Men are as God sees them, not
as men see themselves. I am as God sees me. Now here's
true repentance. I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin is ever before me. How painful it is when we see
ourselves in the light of God's Word. When He shines that light
on us and we see our sins. My sin is ever before me. But
brother, here's the good news of the gospel. It's not before
God. He's put it away. Even though
I'm repenting, and even though I'm sorry, and even though it's
painful, yet I understand, I understand that although my sins are before
me, God has forgotten them. God has forgotten. There was
somebody here not long ago who said, you don't know what the
things I've done. He said, I've done things a dog
wouldn't do. I said, don't tell this dog. Because I can't forget
it. I can't. I'm not your priest. Don't be telling me. I said,
I can't forget it. But God, I said, but God forgets. God has forgotten all our sins.
He's cast them away. He's cast them away. Aren't you
glad of that? Have you heard what Jesus said to me? They're
all taken away. You know when Christ died for
my sins, they were all future. He didn't die for the ones up
to the point I believed. No, He died for all my sins. They're all gone. Do I feel the
filth of them? Yes. The presence of it is not
gone. But I know this, they're gone. Paul said, reckon yourself dead
to sin. That word reckon is an accounting
term. Even though you know they're
there. He says, you reckon that they're gone. And you live with
that reckoning. Live in the light of that reckoning. Now verse 4, we see the exceeding
sinfulness of sin. David says, Against thee and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that
thou mayest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when
thou judgest. The exceeding sinfulness of sin
is who it is against. It's against God. You say, but
David sinned against Uriah and against his family. Uriah was
one of his right-hand men. You know, when Absalom was trying
to take over, there was some valiant men that went with David
and Uriah, the Hittite, his name is mentioned. David had premeditatedly
killed one of his right-hand men. He wouldn't even leave when
David brought him in from the field and tried to cover up his
sins. David tried to cover it up, he tried to hide it. Really,
for about a year. And it ate him up inside. He
said, I believe it's Psalm 32, but it about ate him up. Our sins, now listen, they may
hurt you. And when we sin, we never sin
alone. Somebody's going to be affected
by it. But our sins are against God. I know better. I know better. This is a man
after God's own heart speaking here. This is the man that God
took, anointed him king, and made him the king, and he knew
God. David knew God. This is the man
that knew God. This is the man who had tasted
the tender mercies of God and did such a terrible thing. Our sins are against God. All
of them. Now notice something else
here in this verse. David justifies God in his judgment. Whatever
you do with me is right. Whatever you do is right. He
just threw it all at the feet of our Lord. Whatever you do
is right. If you send me to hell, I deserve it. And listen, every
child of God understands that and you know it. You know it. You know what you deserve. You
look at the cross, you know you deserve that. You know you deserve
the hell that Jesus Christ took in your place. He justifies God. Every sinner, I believe I heard
my pastor say, every sinner takes sides with God against themselves. He does. Behold, listen here. David gives, let me get ahead
of myself, David gives us the root of the matter. Here's the
root of the problem. It wasn't the environment. David
doesn't even say the root of the problem is if I hadn't walked
providentially out on that balcony and looked and there's Bathsheba
taking a bath and if that hadn't happened, no, he didn't say that. The root of the problem is this.
I was shaping an iniquity, an incentive my mother conceived
me. My very nature is my problem. What I am is my problem. What
I do is just because of what I am. That's just results. That's the fruit of what I am. Sins, plural, are the fruit of
sin, singular. What I am. Oh, I was shaping an iniquity. Everything about me is sin, he's
saying. He's not blaming his parents.
He's not blaming the environment. He's not blaming his education.
He's blaming himself. He's blaming himself. He's not
going back and blaming Adam. He's not saying, if Adam hadn't
have done that, I wouldn't have done this. No, if Adam hadn't have done
that, I would have. I'm glad Adam did it, because if he hadn't,
I would have. And in the wisdom of God, God
let us all fall in one man, because in the wisdom of God, He saved
us in one man. We fell in one man, we are risen
in one man. We are sinful in one man, we
are made righteous in one man. That's the wisdom of God. David is saying the fountain
from which we all came from, is a polluted fountain. It's
a polluted fountain. Flesh is flesh. It'll never be
any better. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts. In the hidden parts thou shalt
make me to know wisdom. We don't need to lie to ourselves. We don't need to lie to one another.
And we sure don't need to lie to God. He knows what we are. Why does it take us so long to
come around and confess to God what He already knows? Like you're
hiding it? Adam, where art thou? It's not
that God didn't know where he was at. He was bringing it out
of Adam where he's at. Adam, where are you at? Recognize
where are you at? Lost! Or, I have fallen. As a believer,
I have fallen. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
And they do. They do. And at his best state,
I don't care if he's on a throne or where he's at, at a best state,
he's altogether vanity. Don't ever get to the place where
you think you got it made. Paul said, I have not arrived.
I'm not apprehended. I don't have, I've got it. No. Every older believer in here,
you're more aware of how weak you are than you were when you
started. You know, my brother said to
me back years ago when I made a profession when I was 20, a
religious profession, and he said to me, he said, well, you're
a sinner saved by grace. I said, no, I used to be a sinner.
I'm not anymore. Well, three years later, I found
out I was. Three years later, I heard the gospel from my pastor,
Henry. And I realized, I'm a sinful man. And Lord, you don't have
to save me at all. You don't have to save me. He
could leave me alone. That scared me to death. I realized,
first of all, that God didn't have to save me. Everybody says,
God wants to save me if you'll let Him. No. Then I find out
that He may or He may not. He may or He may not. Jesus Christ is not in our hands,
we're in His hands. He says, Thou hast given me power
over all flesh, that includes mine. And yours. Thou desirest truth in the inward
part, but here's the good part, in the hidden part Thou shalt
make me to know. Oh Lord, make me to know it. Make me to believe. Make me to
know this. God's a God of truth. Just be
honest with God. God deals in truth and sincerity
and in righteousness. But here it is, listen, God not
only desires truth in the inward parts, but he puts truth in the
inward part or you would never come to this place. You come
to this place, God's taught you something. In John 6, 45, it is written
in the prophets, And they shall all be taught
of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the
Father cometh unto me." And that's exactly what David's doing. He's
coming before the Lord. Now David's going to ask God
to do for him what he cannot do for himself. He's a king. Powerful man. Powerful man. He can say, go, and they go.
He can say, come, and they come. But he can't do anything about
his sin. Purge me with hyssop. Now David's getting down to the
root of cleansing. The blood. The blood. They take that hyssop and dip
it in the blood. Purge me with the blood. That's what he's saying.
He knew, he knew God could make him clean. That he could purge
him with the blood of the Lamb. Purge me with hyssop, and I,
listen, here's faith, I shall be clean. Now brethren, that's
faith. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. David knew that the way to be
restored to the privileges which he lost by sin, which was the
joy of the Lord, the sense of His presence, and he knew that
there was a way that could be restored, and that was through
the blood. Through the blood. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood. Make much of the blood. I know
your pastor makes much of the blood here. Because God does. Let us learn to make much of
that which God makes much of. Blood, righteousness, mercy,
forgiveness. Make much of those things that
God makes much of. He knew that He could be restored
through the blood, forgiveness, and cleansing. Listen, they're
not just any old way. God cannot just forgive me because
I asked Him to. He can't do that. He has to be
just. It has to be in a just way for
God to forgive me. And He can do that through the
blood of Jesus Christ. Boy, isn't that good news? That's
good news. Forgiveness and cleansing is
through the blood. Only through the blood of Christ
can I be made whole. It's the blood that makes atonement
for the soul, not repentance. You can cry your heart out for
the rest of your life and you can't put away one sin. Now,
we do mourn over sin and we weep over sin, but it doesn't put
it away. Once the bullet leaves the gun, whatever damage it does,
it does. You can't take it away. You cannot
unsay what you said. Be careful that your words be
few. You cannot unsay what you said. You cannot undo what you've
done. You can't do it. But our Lord can put it away
with the blood. Repentance, yes. But it's the
blood that puts it away. Faith doesn't put it away. Believe
God, believe Him with all your heart, but it won't put away
your sin, but the blood. It's the blood that puts away
sin. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Here's faith. Wash
me and I shall be whiter than snow. David's not questioning
the power of the blood like the leper is saying, Lord, if you
will, you can make me whole. Wash me, give me real spiritual
purification. Every child of God in here wants
that. You want it. Lord, wash me. If you do the
washing, I'll be whiter than snow. But if I do it, I'm going
to be just as bad as I've always been. Listen, only God can make us
clean. And then he says here, when he
asked God, he said, open my ears. You know, I was reading where
they said about a year David went trying not to confess, not
to deal with this. I don't know, but that's what
I've read. But I know this, while David's dealing with this
and not confessing it, he can't hear the good news. Sin, I thought
sin is like this COVID. They say one of the signs of
it, you lose your taste, and your smell. Sin causes us to
lose our taste and smell for the gospel. We just can't get
the joy out of it. We can't do it until sin is put
away, until sin is dealt with. That's what's happening. Now
David is saying, wash me, make me clean. Now listen, he says,
make me to hear. If I hear, hearing is the seeing
eye, and the hearing ear is of the Lord. Make me to hear, unstop
my ears, take the wax out of my ears. Make me to hear joy
and gladness. Make me to hear the gospel again.
Let me hear the good news again. Let it be applied to my heart
again. I don't deserve it, but I'm not
asking because I deserve it. I'm asking because you'd like
to show mercy. And there's a way you can do
it. It's the blood. You can do it because you've
provided the way and the way is the blood of Christ. Make me to hear the joy and gladness
of the gospel that the bones which thou hast broken. Oh, I
hope God breaks my heart and your heart. There ain't nothing
like it. The best thing that could happen
to me and you is God to break our hearts. To give us a broken
heart. Sin listens. Sin makes us lose
our spiritual senses. Sin just messes us up. And David
is asking God to speak. I pray God speak this morning.
He's been doing all the talking. And we usually do. You know,
it takes us a while to shut up. And listen, Lord, you speak now. David has confessed his sin,
now he's wanting to hear from God. There is a time when we
confess our sin and we're saying, God, you speak. You speak. And you enable me to hear joy
and gladness again. Does the gospel bring you joy
and gladness when you hear it? If not, you've got a problem.
There's a problem. David wanted to hear God say,
listen, he wanted to hear God say, I am thy salvation. He wanted
to hear God say, come to me. Come to me. I have a father. Papa, papa. That's why he wanted to hear
his father say, come. Come. Not go. Not go. Not depart, come. Only God can
restore the joy that's been lost through sin. Only God can send
the gospel to the heart in power and restore what we've lost by
sin. Sense of God's favor. To hear
the joy of the gospel, the good news. Listen, David is not asking
God to save him all over again. But he's asking him to forgive
and restore. You know, God saves us. It's like this, I've been saved,
I'm being saved, and I shall be saved. And all along that
path, we experience downfalls. We experience times we're up
and times we're down. Times we are rejoicing and times
we fall. But we're never lost again. We're
never lost again. He doesn't lose his sheep. He goes out and he finds that
lost sheep, and when he puts that sheep on his shoulder, he
doesn't set it down because he's tired. He doesn't set it down
because the journey's long to get back to the fold. He carries
that sheep all the way home. Now you and I, listen, we are
being carried all the way home. God's carrying us. He literally
is carrying us. We don't realize it because,
you know, you and I walk about and we do and we work and we
do all these things. But listen, our shepherd is literally
carrying us on his shoulders. I have put help upon one that
is mighty. He's never tired. He that keeps
Israel, it never slumbers nor sleeps. And he is constantly
carrying us all the way home. You know, if I had to carry you,
I'd have to set you down pretty quick. But He doesn't. He never sets us down. He never
sets us down. We are on the shoulders of the
shepherd all the way home. Now that puts you back on the
mountain. That puts you back up on the mountain. Only God can do this. Hide thy
face, create in me... Listen here. He said, hide thy
face from my sins and blot out mine iniquities. Do a work in
me. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and a right spirit, a constant spirit. Create in me. Take away that
stony heart. Give me a heart that loves you.
A constant heart. Don't you want to be constant? Not up and down. I hate being
up and down. When I'm up and down, I hate
being up and down. One day you're up, one day you're
down. No, give me a constant spirit of believing you and following
you. Give it to me. Create in me.
You know, salvation is a work of creation. It's not just turning
over a new leaf. There ain't no new leaf. What
are you talking about? That's what Adam tried to cover himself
with some figs. That didn't work. Create, create,
create, create by your power a new heart. A clean heart, he
says here, a clean heart and a right spirit. A new heart and
a right spirit are necessary to be justified. Without these,
God cannot be worshipped. Cast me not away from thy presence.
Boy, don't you feel like when you've fallen that God ought
to cast you away? That you feel like crawling in
and He's going to kick you out? He ought to kick you out. He
says here, cast me not away from thy presence. Take not thy Holy
Spirit from me. Don't take away... You know, the Holy Spirit is
called the Comforter. Greed not the Holy Spirit of God. My, we
ought to live more in awareness of that. You're sealed with the
Holy Spirit. Don't take away His comforts
and guidance. We need to learn to be more sensitive
to the leading of God's Spirit. And one of the only ways we can
do that, one of the ways we do that is to be more in the Word
of God. Don't think you're going to be led and guided by the Holy
Spirit. Apart from the Word of God, He
uses the Word of God. He takes the things of Christ
and shows them to us, but they're out of the Word of God. The more
you are in the Word of God, the more sensitive you'll be to the
leading of God's Spirit. Weaken the Word and you'll be
weak in faith. You'll be weak in everything if you weaken the
Word. It's the foundation for all that we believe. Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit."
Our salvation in Jesus Christ is sure, isn't it? Our salvation
is sure in Christ, but by sin we can lose the joy of it. We
can lose the joy. And God is the only one who can
restore it. I can't restore it. The preacher,
the pastor can't restore it. Only God can restore it. Only
God. And he says here, Lord, if you
do this, then I'll teach transgressors just like me. I'll teach transgressors
just like me. Only a sinner can relate to a
sinner. I guarantee you David was a better king after this.
Just like Job, I bet he was a better father to those ten children
afterwards than he was to those ten children before. I bet he
had more of an understanding of who God is. Trials do that to us. It's like sharpening the axe. It's more easy to use. Then I'll teach transgressions
the way you don't have anything to teach until you've experienced
it. The best teachers are the ones
who have experienced their lessons. Let me tell you what I've learned.
And not just from a book. The best preaching is the one
that when the pastor stands there and he's walked with God. Not
only in his word, but in everyday life. When you walk out of these
doors, you walk with God. Enoch walked with God. Wouldn't
you like to sit down and talk to Enoch? Yeah, I would. And deliver me from blood guiltiness. There is no sacrifice to do that
but the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. O God, Thou God of my salvation,
my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness. Thy righteousness,
because it's evident I don't have any. I just proved it. I just proved I have no righteousness.
You know, as hard as this fall was, God didn't cover it up,
He put it in there for us. To learn from. To learn from
this. These things happen for our examples.
And He allowed David to do this, just as He allowed Peter to deny
Him three times. And David doing this, this helped
make him the sweet psalmist of Israel. The best pastors are the ones
who know what they're talking about by experience. I'm going to close here. God
can deliver me from all my sins. Before I bleed and after I bleed,
he's able to cleanse me. Lord, open my lips and my mouth
will show forth thy praise. Give me something to say. Lord,
you touch me, just like me standing here preaching. Lord, touch my
tongue with those live coals off the altar. Touch my tongue. You do it. You do it. For thou
desirest not sacrifice. I'd give it. I'd give it. He's
the king. I'd give whatever he asks. I
would give it. Well, David, you don't have the
sacrifice that can put away sin, but God does. Behold the Lamb
of God. God provided the Lamb and provided
Himself as the Lamb. God Himself, in the flesh, died
for David's sins and put them away. Thou desirest not sacrifice,
else I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offerings, or I give that too. Notice this. The sacrifices of
God. David's saying, here's a sacrifice
that I'm going to give. No, this is what God gives us.
He's actually talking about a sacrifice that God gives us. A broken heart
and a contrite spirit. That's of God. And that's why
he can receive it. God receives that which is of
God, not that which is of the flesh. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou wilt not
despise. Do good in thy good pleasure
and desire. Now he turned to Zion, the church. Now his mind
is on the church, on God's people. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine altar. Then will worship God as he is
to be worshipped, in the way he has prescribed to be worshipped. And that is in spirit and in
truth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that's good news. Sometimes
you've got to go to the valley. But the same water in the valley
is the same on the mountain. All right, Paul.