Psalm 25. In our Bibles, the
translators put sentences at the top of our pages to summarize
what the page says. And in my Bible, above verses
6 and 7, they wrote a prayer for pardon and help. And that's
the title of this message. A prayer for pardon and help. Psalm 25, verse 1 says, Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift
up my soul. Lord, even though I know my soul
is in your hands, I lift up my soul unto thee. I put my soul in your hands, because it is no good in my hands. It's no good. I defile it, this
soul that you gave. I defile it. I ruin it. I drown
it in sin and filth. And I'm tired of me. I really
am. I'm not saying that to try to
be dramatic. I'm tired of me. I am, Psalm 51 and Romans 7,
tired of me. Oh, Lord. Hold my soul. Hold on to my soul. Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift
up my soul. O my God, I trust in Thee. I have to. I have to. It's the only trust I have. I've proven to myself that I
can't trust in Me. I'm being honest. I cannot trust
Me with my soul. I trust you. I just only trust you. Hold my
soul. You're the only one that I trust
with my soul. Verse 2 says, let me not be ashamed. Because what I've done with the
soul you gave me, what I've done with it in my hands, I'm so ashamed. Let me not be ashamed, hold my
soul. Verse two says, let not my enemies
triumph over me. I don't have anybody trying to
kill me like David did. Nobody. And I don't even know
of anybody trying to do me harm. in this world. But I do have
enemies. My first and foremost enemy is
my pride. It is my pride. I hate it. You know, a person may think,
well, you're not that proud of a person. Or maybe they think
I am a proud person. I don't know. Whether they see
it or not, it is there and I hate it. It's my enemy. My inward arrogance is my enemy. My self-worth is my enemy. My biggest enemies are right
inside of here. Oh, Lord, please. Let not my
enemies triumph over me. Don't let them get the best of
me. Don't let my pride get the best
of me. Hold my soul. My soul needs to
be in your hands. Lord, please hold my soul. Let me look to and trust in and
wait on thee." Because verse 3 says, "...Yea, let none that
wait on thee be ashamed." Let them be ashamed which transgress
without cause. They just don't care without
cause. They just don't care. No regret. Lord, if you don't
reach down your hand, that's me. Take my soul. I lift my soul
up to Thee. Verse 4 says, Show me Thy ways. Show me Thy ways, O Lord. Show me how You would have me
to be. Show me Thy ways. Show me how You would have me
to be. And teach me to do it. To do it. Teach me thy path. Teach me to
walk in thy path. Show me thy ways. Show me how
you would have me to be. And teach me thy path. Teach
me to do it. I want to do it. Actions speak
louder than words, Lord. Show me thy ways, teach me thy
paths. Show me how you would have me
to be, and teach me to do it. And verse 5 says, lead me in
thy truth. Lead me in thy word. Thy word is truth. Lead me in the Word of God. I need to be led in the Word
of God. The commandments of God, lead
me in that truth. And change me. He said, lead
me in that truth and teach me. Show me that ways. Teach me that
paths. Lead me in Thy truth and teach
me. Change me. I don't want to be
like me anymore. I don't want to be like me anymore.
I really don't. I want to be like my Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. I really do. Change me. Change me. I want to be conformed to his
image. I truly do. The things I do. The things that I'm so ashamed
of, I honestly wish I didn't. I honestly wish I didn't. Lord,
change me. The things that I don't do, that
I ought to do, but I don't do them. I honestly wish that I
did. Lord, would You change me? Would
You show me Thy ways? Would You teach me Thy paths?
Would You lead me in Your truth that the only thing I need to
know is Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Lord, You change me. Would You teach me? Lord, hold my soul. Hold my soul. And show me and teach me and
lead me. Hold my soul. Until you redeem
this body, until this body catches up to the soul that you've given,
Lord, please, hold on to my soul. Verse 5 says, For thou art the
God of my salvation. You are my only hope. You're
my only hope. I only have one hope. It's the goodness and mercy of
God to reveal to somebody you have one hope. Here's where it
is. Here's how you find it. And actually,
you can't find it, so come. I have one hope. It's in you. I have one hope
and it's in you. All my eggs are in one basket.
Verse 5 says, On thee do I wait all the day. Lord, I wait on thee to take
away my shame, this shame that I feel, the shame for what I've
done with the soul you gave me. I wait for you to take away my
shame. I wait on thee to triumph over my enemies. I can't wait
to get rid of my enemies. I really can't. I'm ready to
be done with them. I wait on Thee to show me Thy
ways. I wait on Thee to teach me Thy
paths. I wait on Thee to lead me in
Thy truth. And I'm waiting on Thee to change
me. Change me. We love this. Let's turn to 1
Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, look at verse 49. It says, as we have borne the
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heaven. Now, this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither does
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep when the Lord comes back. Not every person
will have died. If he comes back quickly, we'll
still be here, we will not have died, we shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trump shall sound. And I don't know if it's going
to sound three times or seven times, but on the last trump,
the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption. And this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the
law, but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord. It's not in vain. Thou art the God of my salvation."
I'm going to be changed. We're going to be changed. Lord,
change me. Save me. Redeem me. Unto Thee, I lift up my soul. Now, back in our text, David
is going to ask the Lord for three things. And these three things are what
every begging sinner needs from the Lord. We all need three things. In order to trust in him, in
order to not be ashamed and to be changed into his image, this
is every sinner's prayer for pardon and help. David asked and we all ask three
remembers. The first one is in verse 6.
Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses,
for they have been ever of old. Our concordance says tender mercy
means compassion. Lord, please remember thy compassion. Would you remember that? Lord,
would you please remember that you will have compassion on whom
you'll have compassion? Please remember that. Lord, remember
that your compassions fail not. Please. That's my need. I need him to remember that his
compassions fail not. Mercy is not getting what we
deserve. The Lord's tender mercy is a
holding back of something. Loving kindness is giving something,
loving kindness. It's a grace and grace is getting
what we don't deserve. Lord, would you remember, please
remember to not give me what I deserve. When my soul comes before you,
would you please remember to not give me what I deserve? And
please, Lord, would you remember to give me what I don't deserve? That's the first thing I need. Would you remember what you purposed
in your covenant before the foundation of the world? That's our first
need. Verse 6 says, Remember, O Lord,
thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses, for they've been
ever of old. Would you remember back before
the foundation of the world what you purposed to put in a covenant
concerning me? Would you remember that? The second remember in this prayer
for pardon and help is in verse 7. Remember not the sins of my
youth nor my transgressions. Lord, remember not the sins of
my past, my present, or my future. Notice, David, he didn't ask
for forgiveness. He didn't say, will you forgive?
The sins of my youth and my transgressions, although David asked for them
all the time, we just saw it. Psalm 130, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness
with thee. Lord, I need forgiveness. But
here he's asking the Lord to do something even greater than
that. He's asking the Lord to go even
farther than that. And he says, Lord, after you
forgive my sin, would you forget it? Would you forget that it ever
even existed in the first place? Is that possible? Is that even possible with God? The God who knows all things. The God who knows the end from
the beginning. The God who knows every single
thought. Even the intent of the heart. Is it even possible for God to
forget something? Honestly. With God. All things are possible. We in our sin say to each other,
I forgive you. But I'll never forget it. And what we mean by that is I'm
going to keep this memory close. Just in case I ever need to pull
it back out and hang it over your head. David said, I need my sin to
be gone. It's got to be gone. Please don't
let it hang over my head ever again. Never a chance. Never
a chance. Turn with me to Jeremiah 31.
Listen to the word of the Lord, our God. I love this. Jeremiah
31. And look at verse 31, Jeremiah
31, 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break. They broke it, although I wasn't
a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts. I'm going
to put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts. And we'll be their God. And they
shall be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor. And every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for they're going to all know me." What he's saying
is, I'm going to show them my ways. I'm going to teach them
my paths. I'm going to lead them in my
truth. And I'm going to teach them. They shall all know me. From the least of them unto the
greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I'm going to do two things. I will forgive their iniquity. And then after that, I will remember
their sin no more. I will forgive, and then I will
forget. It never happened. It never happened. It never did happen. In our text, Psalm 25. The third, remember, in our prayer
for pardon and help is in verse seven. According to that mercy. Remember, Val, me. For that goodness sake, oh, Lord.
Remember that tender mercies and that loving kindnesses. Remember
not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions, and remember
me." Me. For that goodness sake. The Lord
told Moses, I'll make all my goodness pass before you. And
that goodness was the Lord Jesus Christ. He's saying, remember
me for Christ's sake. Now when we hear the two words,
remember me. One event comes to all of our
minds. And I want us to look at it.
In this one event, let's see just how great the Lord's compassion,
His tender mercies, and His loving kindnesses are toward us. Let's
see Him forget the sins of our youth and our transgressions
And let's watch him remember us. Turn with me to Luke 23. I'm going to read most of this
chapter. Luke 23. Verse 1 says, "...and the whole
multitude..." The whole multitude. A bunch
of people. "...the whole multitude of them
arose and led our Lord unto Pilate. And they began to accuse Him..."
This multitude of people, this great crowd of people began to
accuse Him saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation
and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself
is Christ the King. And Pilate asked him, saying,
Art thou the king of the Jews? And our Lord answered him and
said, Thou sayest it. Then said Pilate to the chief
priest and to the people, I find no fault in this man. And they were the more fierce.
This crowd of people, they were the more fierce saying he stir
up the people teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee
to this place. When Pilate heard of Galilee,
he asked whether the man were a Galilean. And as soon as he
knew that he belonged under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to
Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time. And when
Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad, for he was desirous to
see him of a long season because he'd heard many things of him
and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned with him many
words. But our Lord answered him nothing.
And the chief priest and scribes stood and vehemently accused
him. And Herod with his men of war
set him at naught and mocked him and arrayed him in a gorgeous
robe and sent him again to Pilate. And the same day, Pilate and
Herod were made friends together, for before they were at enmity
between themselves. And Pilate, when he had called
together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, said
unto them, You have brought this man unto me as one that perverted
the people. And behold, I, having examined
him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those
things whereof you accused him. No, nor yet Herod. For I sent
you to him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him
and release him. For of necessity, he must release
one of them at the feast. And they cried out all that whole
multitude at once, saying away with this man and release unto
us Barabbas, who for a certain sedition made in the city and
for murder was cast into prison. Pilate, therefore willing to
release Jesus, spake again to them, to this great crowd of
people. But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third
time, Why? What evil hath he done? I have
found no cause of death in him. I will therefore chastise him
and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices requiring that he might be crucified. This great crowd
of people. And the voices of them and of
the chief priest prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that
it should be as they required. And he released unto them him
that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they
had desired, but he delivered Jesus to their will. And as they
led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian coming
out of the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might
bear it after Jesus. And there followed him a great
company of people, all those people, that great crowd, and
of women which also bewailed and lamented him, but Jesus turning
unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me. But weep for yourselves and for
your children. For behold, the days are coming
in the which they shall say, blessed are the barren and the
wounds that never bear and the paps which never gave suck. Then
shall they begin to say to the mountains, fall on us and to
the hills, cover us. For if they do these things in
a green tree while life is here, What shall be done in the dry?
And there were also two other male factors led with him to
be put to death. And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and
the male factors, one on the right hand and the other on the
left. And this great crowd of people
who brought Him to Pilate, accused Him of all sin, would not have
Him be set free. Followed Him to Calvary. They railed on Him. And in verse
34, then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do. Forgive them. Do you think they
were forgiven? If the Lord Jesus Christ asked
the Father on their behalf, do you think they were forgiven?
Absolutely. They were forgiven. Do you know
what that was? That was tender mercy and loving
kindness. After all that, He said, Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do, And they parted
his raiment and cast lots. And the people stood beholding,
and the rulers also with them. They all derided him, saying,
He saved others. Let him save himself, if he be
Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked
him, coming to him and offering him vinegar and saying, If thou
be the king of the Jews, save thyself. They're all looking
up at Him saying, you're not God. You're not God. If you are, prove it. Save yourself. Sin is pouring out of their lips,
out of their hearts. It's just being hurled at the
Lord. Right then and there. That's
hard to forget. Right in the moment. That's hard to forget
right in the moment. Now, we're coming back to this,
but turn with me quickly to Acts chapter three. Acts chapter three, look at verse
12. When Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people. This great crowd of people, ye
men of Israel, why marvel ye at this, or why look ye so earnestly
on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this
man to walk? The God of Abraham and of Isaac
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son
Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence
of Pilate. You were the ones who brought
him to Pilate. It was y'all. When he was determined
to let him go. But you denied the holy one and
the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you. And killed
the prince of life whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof
we are witnesses. Verse 19 says, Repent ye, therefore,
and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Now,
verse four, verse one says, As they spake unto the people, the
priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came
upon them, being grieved that they taught the people and preached
through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid
hands on them and put them in hold until the next day, for
it was now eventide. Howbeit, many of them which heard
the word believed. And the number of the men was
about five thousand of that great multitude of people who led the
Lord to Pilate and railed on Him and hollered, Crucify Him.
He saved them. He saved those people. And when they had prayed, the
place was shaken, where they were assembled together, and
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the
word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that
believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any
of them that all of the things which he possessed was his own,
but they had all things common, and with great power gave the
apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace. was upon them all. Chapter 5,
verse 11 says, And great fear came upon all the church. That
was the church. Those people were the beginning
of God's church. Those really were our brothers
and sisters. At that one moment in time, they're
standing right in front of Him. He's watching them. and listening
to them sin against Him. They're hollering, crucify Him,
crucify Him. This is not God. He's not my
God. As He listens to them saying
it, He knows that's the very sin I'm dying for right there.
As they're hurling the sin, Into His face, it's all just landing
on His shoulders. It's just piling up. He's just
taking it and letting it pile up. And in tender mercy and in loving
kindness, He knows, I'm taking these, I'm taking all of them
to a place where they're never going to be remembered ever again.
I will remember these. I'm going to forgive them. I'm
going to remember them no more. Well, back in Luke 23, verse 35 says, The people stood
beholding the rulers also with him. They derided him, saying,
He saved others. Let him save himself if he be
Christ, the chosen of God. All the people mocked him. Verse
36, The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering
him vinegar and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save
thyself. And a superscription also was
written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This
is the king of the Jews. And one of the male factors,
which were hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ,
save thyself and us. Matthew's account says both of
the male factors railed on him. They were both hollering at him,
You're not God. Save me. If you're God, then
save me. But the Lord, in His mercy, I
believe He looked over at one of them. I believe He looked
at him. I believe He cut His eyes at
him. And I believe that the Word of
God Himself pierced his soul. And that guy said, Oh God! Oh
God! Oh my God! I see God. And it's in the face
of Jesus Christ. You're my only hope as I'm dying
here on this tree. I've got one hope. And I'm looking
at Him. I see God. And I've got one need. I need Your mercy. I need loving
kindness. Please, don't remember what I've
done. This is what I need. Would you
remember me? Me. I need you to remember me. Verse 40 says, But the other
answering rebuked him, saying, Does not thou fear God, seeing
thou art in the same condition? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done
nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. What he meant
by that was, Lord, I'm dying. Would you hold my soul? And Jesus said unto him, I'm
telling you the truth. Today, you're going to be with
me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour
and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
And the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was rent
in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with
a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands, I commend my
spirit. Father, I'm going to do the work
you've given me to do. Would you hold my soul? Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. Having said thus, he gave up
the ghost. Unto thee do I lift up my soul. Now when the centurion saw what
was done, this centurion who I believe was the man who hit
him in the face, railed on him, mocked him when he saw this,
tender mercy and loving kindness came to him. The Lord forgot
all those sins he committed. He said he glorified God saying
certainly that this was a righteous man. That man possesses everything
I need. In order for my soul to make
it to glory, He possesses everything that I need. Our texts, verses 6 and 7, say,
Remember, O Lord, Thy tender mercies and Thy loving kindnesses,
for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth,
nor my transgressions. And according to Thy mercy, remember
Thou me. For that goodness sake, oh Lord.
I pray the Lord will remember us. Okay, John.