Now watch me and I shall be whiter
than snow Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow Now watch me
and I shall be whiter than snow Lord Jesus, Thou see'st the salvation
we bring, from now and within, beyond to our creation. To those who bless our feet,
Thou ne'er let's go, Thou watch'st and guide. It's all 51. Psalm 51. This psalm is a favorite
of nearly every believer. And that's a good thing. I believe
that if you love this psalm, then you know God. You know something about yourself,
about your sin. your need for mercy. I believe
if you love this psalm, you love the sound of mercy. That's what
this psalm is all about. That's what David is calling
on the Lord for. That's our greatest need, isn't
it? Did you know that many of the martyrs who went to be burned
at the stake or to be hung by the neck or killed in some terrible
way, many of them, if you'll read the accounts, Many of them
went to their deaths quoting this psalm, or having someone
read this psalm. I understand that, don't you?
Because the thought of facing a holy God, the thing we want
and need more than anything else is mercy through Christ, the
blood sacrifice. I remember one time, preaching,
well, doing a graveside burial of Silas Nickel. Some of you
were probably there. And I had no real confidence. I did not have much hope for
him. I don't know. I visited him in the hospital
right before he died. It was a pretty good visit. But anyway, he died. And at the
burial, I read this psalm. And I remember looking up to
my left, and it was the so-called preacher of Furnace Creek Baptist
Church standing there. He was the so-called pastor of
a member of Silas' family, one of his children. And while I
was reading it, I distinctly remember, you know, I was looking
around, I was looking over at him, and he had the most puzzled
look on his face. Why are you reading that? You see, he must not need mercy.
He must not know that it's of the Lord's mercies that we're
not concerned. All of us. All of us. From the best man starting, I'm
not the best man, but every man at his best state is altogether
vanity. David, what he did, what the Lord allowed him to do, shows
that the best of men are just sinners at best. Sinners. And we need mercy. Verse 1, Have
mercy upon me, O God. David says, O God, four times
in this psalm. O God. O God. He doesn't say,
My God, until later on. It's like he's saying, I've sinned
against God. And I don't know if I'm one of
His or not. I'm hoping in His mercy. Have
mercy on me, O God. Will the Lord have mercy on someone
who asks for it from the depth of their heart? I can't really say I enjoy preaching
from this psalm. The answer is joy and gladness,
but David throughout this, it's a very personal psalm. It's a
psalm of repentance. Sadness and sorrow over sin all
the way through here. And David asked, Lord, make me
hear joy and gladness. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. His sin against God had caused
him to lose all hope of being saved, of being a child of God.
That joy that you have, some consolation that you have in
thinking you are a child of God. I'm here to tell you, I'm going
to smile at the outset, because God, He delights to show mercy. That's His name. He told Moses,
I'm going to declare my name, the Lord, the Lord God. Mercy. The Lord takes pleasure in them
that fear Him and those that hope in His mercy. I quote that
all the time. That was one of our memory verses. I need to remember that. Have mercy on me, O God. According
to thy loving-kindness." That's an Old Testament word. It's two
words in one. Loving-kindness. God is love,
and love is kind. God is loving-kind. God is love. He loves to show mercy. And He's
so kind. According to your loving-kindness.
David pleads with the Lord. David doesn't plead his own goodness. David doesn't plead his own worth.
David doesn't plead his own merit. Well, I've just slipped up, Lord,
and I've basically been through all these... No, sir. He pleads
the Lord's loving kindness and mercy with him, doesn't he? Listen
to this. David, in another Psalm 86, he
says, I love you. This is what he pleads with the
Lord. He said, Be merciful unto me, O Lord. I cry unto Thee daily.
Rejoice the soul of Thy servant. Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift
up my soul. For Thou, Lord, art good. You're
good, ready to forgive. Plenteous in mercy unto all them
that call upon Thee. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer.
He goes on to say, Great is Thy mercy toward me. You've delivered
my soul from the lowest hell. Thou, Lord, art a God full of
compassion. Gracious, long-suffering, and
plenteous in mercy and truth, turn unto me and have mercy upon
me." Will the Lord hear that? David's not flattering the Lord.
He's praising the Lord. According to your loving kindness.
According to verse 1, the multitude of thy tender mercies. God's
been so merciful to us, to others. The story of Israel all through
the Old Testament. Oh, how long-suffering the Lord
was with them. What all did they do? They provoked Him constantly. The Lord said to them, you've
tempted Me ten times. And yet in Psalm 106, 7, about all of their provocations
of the Lord, and yet said, yep, never the less. Where sin abounded. This is a
happy psalmist. The end is. David, when he wrote
this, though, he didn't know. He was in doubt about salvation. He's pleading. And this is what
we plead. We plead God's goodness, God's
mercy, God's Son, the blood. We're going to see that in a
minute. Blot out my transgressions. David
says, they testify against me. The handwriting of ordinances
are against me. The law is against me. And all
of my transgressions, which are rebellion against God, testify
against me, Lord, some way, somehow. And you just wipe it clean. Just
blot it out. Verse 2, wash me throughly from
my iniquity. Wash me. David is not like Cain. He's not grieving over his punishment. He's grieving over his sin. Cain said, my punishment is greater
than I can bear. David said, my sin is ever before
me. My sin. David didn't just want
to be forgiven his sin, he wanted to be washed from it. Done with. They asked Spurgeon one time,
I've told you this many times, it's a good illustration. They
asked him one time, if you could have anything from the Lord,
what would it be? He said, that I might not ever sin again. Sin
is the cause of all of our own misery, and everybody around
us. We not only sin against the Lord, but everyone around us,
and make them and us miserable. Wash me, wash me throughly from
my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. 4, verse
3, I acknowledge my transgressions. I acknowledge my transgressions.
This is a psalm of repentance. He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper, the proverb says, but he that confesseth his sins
and forsaketh them shall find mercy. That's what it said. That's what the Lord said. I
acknowledge my transgressions. Go back to Psalm 38. David wrote this at the same
time, and then he wrote Psalm 32 shortly after that. Look at
this, Psalm 38. He's confessing, admitting and
confessing his sins to the Lord in Psalm 38, verse 3, like Paul
in Romans 7. There's no soundness in my prayer.
Neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. My
iniquities have gone over my head as a heavy burden. They're
too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt
because of my foolishness. I'm just a fool. Verse 7, my
loins are filled with a loathsome disease. There's no soundness
in my flesh. Like Paul said, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Verse 17, I'm ready to halt.
Verse 18, but I will declare mine iniquity. I will be sorry
for my sin. Go back a few pages to Psalm
32. He wrote this, I believe, just
a little while later after that, after I believe the Lord gave
him some assurance that he had forgiven his sin. Psalm 32, he
says, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
and whose spirit is no guile. David wasn't confessing sin,
repenting of sins, so he could go back to sinning. No. He wasn't done with it. That's why he said, wash me,
cleanse me. Look at the next verse. He said, I kept silence,
my bones waxed old. Verse 5, I acknowledged my sin
unto thee, my iniquity have I not here. I said, I will confess
my transgression unto the Lord. You know what? He forgave him. All matter of sin shall be forgiven.
That's what our Lord said. Through the blood of Christ,
the mercy of God, and the blood of Christ, I acknowledge my transgression. Don't hide them. Don't confess
them to people, but confess them all to God. He knows them anyway.
My sin is ever before me. Now, David had gotten in a bad
way. And he'd done a terrible thing.
And he did not acknowledge what he had done for almost a year. He had no compunction. He had
no contrition. He had no sorrow. He had no repentance. It didn't grieve him. How can
a believer stay in a state like that for so long? Can that be?
Unrepentant. Unfeeling. Unmoved, unbothered
by such sins. But God. See, repentance, if
you feel like the worst sinner on earth, good. It's a good thing. If you don't,
bad. The Holy Spirit, the first thing
our Lord said, when the Spirit of God has come, when the Holy
Spirit, the Comforter has come, He shall convict of what? Sin. Does He ever stop doing that?
No. He's called the Holy Spirit. And all late sinners need Christ. And then the Holy Spirit, if
He convicts you of sin, do you know what He'll do? He'll want
you to cry. Every time. Every time. My sin is ever before. Now, the
Holy Spirit has come to David through a preacher. What did
it take to convict David of his sin? A preacher. He sent Nathan. Bless God for conviction of sin
through the preaching of the truth to God. He sent Nathan,
and Nathan told him that story. Remember? Told him the story
of God's goodness and grace to him. Sin against God, and David, I've
sinned against the Lord. And the first thing that Nathan
said, you remember the first thing Nathan said when David
said, I've sinned against God? Nathan said, the Lord's put away
your sin. He's put it away. One of the
old writers said, as soon as sin is admitted, it's remitted. I'm laughing. I said I didn't
enjoy this, so I am. Peter at Pentecost said, repent
for the remission of sins. As soon as they're admitted,
they're remitted. As soon as sins are confessed,
they're put away. In fact, we didn't know it, but
they were put away long before that. My sin is ever before me. It's a good thing, people. It's
a good thing. We may never forget. But that's
alright. Because it keeps us humble. It's
supposed to. But God has forgotten. Verse
4, Against thee, thee only have I sinned. Done this evil in thy
sight. Against thee and thee only. David
sinned against many people, didn't he? Sinned against Bathsheba,
against Uriah, against his own family. against the kingdom of
God, against the church, against the people of God. He brought
great reproach. The consequences of our sins
are terrible. But David said, first and foremost,
the one I've sinned the most against, as if he's the only
one I've sinned against, is God. I've sinned against goodness.
I've sinned against mercy. I've sinned against love. I've
sinned against grace. I've sinned against Him who's
done so much for me. What's wrong with me? And I said, I've done this evil
in thy sight. May our Lord see us men. Now,
he did this as if God didn't exist. That's what we do. We
sin, you know, as if God doesn't exist. Verse 4, he said, you're
going to be just when you speak. You know, everything, if convicted
of our sin, everything in God's Word, we agree with Him, don't
we? You're right. The sinners that
heard Christ preach, the Republicans in the heart, said they justified
God in the condemnation of themselves. Lord, everything you say about
me is true. If you sent me to hell, it would
be what I deserve. That's what he said. You'll be
clear when you judge. If you judge me, you'll be clear.
If you don't, it will be pure mercy on you. It will be because
of somebody else. Verse 5, Behold, I was shaken
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. You know,
David, as if he was suddenly awakened after being so long
cold and indifferent and dead, and unrepentant, all of a sudden
he's awakened and now he thinks back to the beginning of his
whole life, how it's been nothing but sin. You know that? In another psalm he said, he
said, remember mercy and don't remember the sins of my youth.
It's all coming back to me now. I'd like to forget it. But you
ask God to forget it instead. He said, David acknowledges,
I'm a son of Adam. And though I haven't sinned,
I have sinned at the similitude of Adam. I was born in sin, dead
and trespassed in sin. My mother's a sinner. My father's
a sinner. Verse 6, Behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward part. In the hidden part thou shalt
make me to know wisdom. Oh, David said, the man who has
no guile. David, you know, we've all gone
through the motions. We've come into this place. We've
come to worship and we've sung these songs, drawn near to God
with our lips and our hearts far from us. Haven't we? I've preached that way. Haven't
we? God looks on the heart. I'm a
now desirous, You know, this is one of the few times that
it says God desires something. One of the few times in Scripture.
You won't find that very often in Scripture. Thou desirest truth
in the inward part, the hidden part. Oh Lord, make me to know
wisdom. Verse 7, Purge me with hyssop,
and wisdom is what? Wisdom is Christ. Purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Don't you love that song we sang?
I find myself singing that quite often. Wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow. You know what the Lord said through
Isaiah in chapter 1? I loved it. He said, wash you. Make you clean. How? How, Lord? How do we wash? Well,
there's a fountain filled with blood. Drawn from Emmanuel's
vein, and sinners that just plunge beneath that blood lose all their
guilty stain. He said, come now, let's reason
together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they'll be as white
as snow. Though they be red as black crimson,
they'll be as wool, whiter than snow. As wool. Wool? That's a lamb's coven, is it?
That's right. Righteous as it is. Purge me
with hyssop. Sometime later, go back and read
Leviticus 13 and 14. Leviticus 13 is the cleansing
of a leper. If the leper comes to the high
priest and they can't find one good spot on him anywhere, he's
covered all over with leprosy, then the high priest says, remarkably,
amazingly, mysteriously, the high priest says, clean. Now
you know what that means. The next chapter, Leviticus 14,
is where the high priest makes an atonement for that leper and
he takes two birds. He takes two birds, a living
bird. Both birds are living. He ties up one on a piece of
wood with scarlet and hyssop. Hyssop. Hyssop. That's an herb
that grows out of the rock. Cleansing. Purging. Medicinal. Pungent. Savory. This all speaks of Christ. And you kill that one bird, and
shed its blood in a basin, and take the live bird and dip it
in the blood of that dead bird, and set it free. Purge me with His... That's what David's talking about.
Take that sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ in Him crucified. and plunge me in His blood and
cleanse me from all my sin. I'll be clean. It's the only
way I'll be clean. Wash me. I'll be whiter than snow. Verse
8, "'And make me to hear joy and gladness.'" You know, could
be he'd been hearing Nathan preach for a while. He'd never heard
of that. And finally, he was convicted
of his sin. And it plunged him into despair.
It plunged him into hopelessness. It plunged him into darkness. And he called on the Lord and
confessed his sins here. And he said, Lord, I sure would
like to hear a joyful sound. Make me glad. Would you make
me glad? That the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
Have you ever had a broken bone? Well, it's a pretty painful thing,
isn't it? It's a painful thing. The depth of the bone is a marrow.
Scripture says so much about that. David is talking about
his innermost being. I'm just broken. Verse 9, hide
thy face from my sin. Lord, don't look at what I've
done. Blot out all my iniquities. Blot
out. He keeps asking to blot them
out. Blot them out. Blot them out. How does the Lord
blot out all my sin? You know, there are books in
heaven that the Lord is going to open. The book of life where everything
that everyone has ever done or said is going to be brought to
light. The secret thing. Every idle
word, everything, every thought, every deed, God knows, wrote
it in a book. There's another book. It's called
the Lamb's Book of Life. It says the dead are going to
be judged. The dead, mind you, are going
to be judged in that Book of Life. They're going to be judged
by everything that they've done, everything they've said, every
idle word, every sin, everything. The dead are going to be judged
from that Book of Life. judged guilty, and then cast
into the lake of fire. But now, there's a Lamb's Book
of Life. And in that book, there are names.
The names of all of God's people that He wrote in that Lamb's
Book of Life. His elect that He gave to Christ
before the world. The Lamb's name before the world
began. To put away their sin. You know
what's beside their name? Every one of them? Redeemed. We do. There's not one single
block. There's not one single mark. There's not one single thing. Like Hebrews 11 talks about all
those saints. Samson. You heard the story about
Samson? And on and on it goes. Rahab. There's not one thing written
about their sin. Why? Those previous ten chapters
about Christ didn't put it away. Oh, bought out my transmutant
iniquities. Verse 10, creating me a clean
heart. Oh God, a clean heart. You know that person that pleads
their heart? I've heard people do that. You
just don't know my heart. Well, if you say that, you don't
know your heart. I used to, you know, the Lord
has given God's people a new heart, but yet I don't completely
understand. David's been given a new heart.
David was a born again child of God with a new heart. That's
what God said, I give him a new heart, heart of flesh. Then why
does he say give me a clean heart? I don't know. But I know, I find
that in my experience. I have a new heart, yet I have
this old heart. I have this old man that's ever
with me. I don't know, but this is my
experience. That's what I want. I don't want
to trust my heart. I want to trust God's heart.
Christ's heart. I don't even know my heart. Create in me a clean heart, he
said. Oh God, renew a right spirit
within me. A constant spirit. Oh, a faithful
spirit. Holy spirit. Renewed. Got in a bad spirit, didn't it?
Ever gotten in a bad spirit? How many times? It will happen
again. Verse 11, cast me not away from
thy presence. Take not thy holy spirit from
me. David was afraid the Lord was going to cast him out, wasn't
he? Are you, ever? Oh, thank God, Christ said, I
give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Because David thought he was
going to be. And it's a good thing. David, this is why he
said things like this, I'd rather be a doorkeeper. You can just,
Lord, don't cast me out. Just let me keep the door. I
don't have to come down front. Just let me, just hold the door
open for your saints. But don't gas me up. You should have, shouldn't you? Get out of here and don't come
back. No, he won't do that. You know why? Because this is
a hospital for sinners. Because Christ came into the
world to save sinners, that's why. And Him that cometh to make,
Christ said, keep coming, no matter what. I wouldn't know
why He's got to do that. Verse 12, Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation. Brothers and sisters, if you
feel particularly sinful and rotten and no good, you won't
have any joy. And you won't rejoice in God's
salvation until God says unto your soul, I am thy salvation.
You know what I'm saying? Sure you do. Verse 12, Uphold
me with thy free spirit. David found out real quickly,
well not quickly, it took a while. But he found out the hard way
how that if the Lord doesn't hold him up, he'll fall terribly. It's within every one of us,
beginning with me, to do anything. This sin of David. You know what he did? Had a man
killed? If God doesn't hold us up, We'll follow a meeting. Uphold
me with thy free spirit. Holy Spirit, free me from my
sin. Make me a free spirit, free from
sin. Verse 13, Then will I teach transgressors
thy way, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Then will
I teach transgressors thy way. What would he tell sinners? What
would he tell them? There's a forgiveness with God.
Wouldn't it? Lord, if you forgive a sinner
like me, I'll tell everybody. He'll forgive anybody. He'll
forgive any sin. Now what did he say in that Psalm
130? He said, there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be
feared. David wouldn't just say, God
is merciful, God is gracious. He'll say, you don't understand
the consequences of your sin. Don't do it. I'll teach transgressors
that way. God will. He will. He will deal
with you. David suffered some of the consequences
of this all of his life. The rest of his life. He said,
my sin is ever before me. But God is so good. What God
wrought out of that terrible sin was great goodness. I believe
your eye went to be with the Lord. Quite certain of it. There were others that died on
the front line, according to David. Others that died because
of that. But born of that terrible sin
of David was Solomon. He said, I'll teach sinners.
I think it was Spurt. One of the old writers said,
The best, what did he say? He said, poachers
make the best game warden. Reformed poachers make the best
game warden. Reformed sinners make the best
preachers. I'll teach sinners. I'll tell
them, don't sin like John. Don't do it. But if any man sin,
we have an apothecary. Deliver me, verse 14, deliver
me from blood guiltiness. Oh God, I've got blood on my
hands. We've got the blood of God's
Son on our hands. You know that? All those years
we spent ignoring Him, not caring, not wanting to hear His gospel,
is the same as standing at the cross and saying, crucify Him.
It is. And even now. Sins we sinned
against Him. One of the old writers, I believe
it was Spurgeon, said, every sin that we sin now added to
the suffering of Christ. Meaning, He had to pay for every
single sin on the cross. Sins we have committed and shall
commit. So, think twice. Let us think
twice before we commit sin, because that's why Christ suffered. Deliver
me. In my tongue, Shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness." That's what he said in Psalm 71 over
and over and over again. If I talk about righteousness,
David said, it's going to be his. Not going to be mine. I
don't have any. I don't have any. He's my righteousness. We know what it means, don't
we? That He's made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption. Few people know and
few people care. Boy, we do. Sinners do, don't
they? He's made unto me. Wisdom. Saving wisdom. Righteousness. I need righteousness.
Don't I? He is at sanctification and redemption. He said, My tongue will sing
aloud of thy righteousness, O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth
shall show forth thy praise. I believe David, like Job said,
Yeah, I'm going to put my hand on my mouth. I've got nothing
to say. When God said with rebukes, just correct a man for his iniquity,
it's going to make you shut your mouth. Not say, well, I... Lord, if you'll forgive me, if
you'll blot out my sin, we'll sing. What are you going to sing
about, David? Thy righteousness. Thy mercy. Thy praise. This is how you know
someone's been forgiven, someone's been saved, someone's a child
of God. You know what they'll sing about? Him. They'll sing
about Him. Verse 16, Thou desirest not sacrifice,
else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. That is, these ceremonies and so forth. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit. A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, Thou wilt not despise. A broken and a contrite heart.
This is what the Lord said. He said, Thus saith the High
and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy.
I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of
a contrite and humble spirit. That's Isaiah 57. Listen to this,
Isaiah 66. He says, "...to this man will I look,
even him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and tremble
at that, my Lord." So David said, my heart is broken over sin.
Verse 18, now, his sin was not only against God, But it brought
great reproach upon the kingdom of God and the people of God.
And I believe David was worried about the consequences of his
sin, being the king of Israel. The consequences of his sin upon
the people that he led. He wasn't thinking about them
when he sinned against God. But he is now. He's worried.
So many times, Man, now through the years, the kings of Israel
sinned, and Israel suffered the consequences. Right? So many
different kings now through the years. Kings of Judah. All the
kings of Israel were bad. But different kings of Judah
sinned, and the whole country suffered the consequences. David
was worried about that. And so he prays for Zion. He prays for the church, which
he had evidently forgotten about. And he says, Lord, do good to
your people. Do good in thy good pleasure
and desire. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Edge us about, Lord. Don't break down these walls.
Don't let our enemies attack us because of me. Don't tear this down. Build it
up. Don't let it fail because of me. Can you say that? Lord, I don't deserve to be here,
but I want to be here. I pray for the peace of Jerusalem,
and Lord, don't destroy this place because of me. Build it
up. Do good, not good pleasure and desire. Build thou the walls
of Jerusalem. I need this place. I need this
place. Then thou shalt be pleased, shalt
thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt
offerings, whole burnt offerings. Then shall they offer bullets
upon that altar. If we can just feel that the
Lord has forgiven us for Christ's sake, then we'll worship aright. Then we'll come in here and we'll
hear about Christ's blood and it'll mean something to us. And
we won't want to do anything else but worship Him aright in
spirit and truth according to the Christ crucified. We won't
go through the motions. If we just feel forgiven of our sin and mercy
and grace for Christ's sake, we'll worship the right way.
We won't go through the motions. We will really worship. That's
what David said. Okay, stand with me. Father in
Heaven, thank You for Christ's sake. Thank You for the blood.
Thank You for remission of sin through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thank You for this psalm. Thank You, thank You,
thank You. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit
who takes the things of Christ and keeps showing Him to us. Thank You, O Lord. We've grieved
Him. Quench Him, take Him not from us. Hold us up by Thy free
Spirit. Point us to Christ, and may we
be just like Him. In Christ's name, Amen. You're
dismissed.