I read a passage from there, and then
we'll be dwelling at Psalm 51. Matthew chapter 9. I don't know who this is for,
but I hope it's for someone. I hope it's just not dead cold
words as it always, or as it so often comes out. But I hope it's somebody in here
who has a need. And I hope this can fill it. If only men and women really
understood their desperate need and desperate condition before
God. If only we could see. If only our
eyes could be really opened to see what lies before us. Our one great need we'd be diligently
seeking. our one great need if we knew
it, and that is mercy. Mercy. So often I get up here and other
men in their pulpits, and they talk about and they dwell upon
sin. And it's not pleasant to the
ear, particularly on a Sunday morning, a nice day, But it's the issue, it's what
has separated us between us and our God, and it has to be dealt
with. If men ever see their sin before
this holy God, if we ever see it, young people, if we ever
see it, if we ever see how God sees us and how He's going to
deal with us, we'll be begging Him, we'll be
begging Him for mercy. And then, And then only will
God speak peace, will God speak comfort. Then and then only will
the gospel mean a thing. You've got to start with sin. You've got to start with mercy
and end up with grace. That's where you've got to start. The scripture says, blessed is the man Whom thou
choosest. Blessed is the man, blessed is
the woman whom God singles out and chooses, elects, and causes
to approach unto Him. Blessed is the man, woman, whom
God, out of this mass of corruption, just reaches down and says, stop
right there. You, yeah you, stop right there. and causes you to approach Him
for mercy. Some of you, by God's electing
grace, have been given eyes to see what you really are, an understanding
of the only way you can approach this holy God. And look here
at Matthew chapter 9 with me. Blessed, blessed, blessed. are
your eyes, if you see this. Matthew 9, verse 10. And it came to pass, as Jesus
Christ sat at meat in the house, behold, many notorious people,
many publicans, many down and out sinners, vile and wicked
people came. And they sat down with him. They sat down with him and his
disciples. And the Pharisees, there were some religious fellows
there. Some pious, moral fellows with
their robes on. They said, they didn't say it
to him, but they said to his disciples, why eateth your master
with these sorts of people? Why does your master eat with
these publicans and sinners? But he heard them. He who hears
all, he heard. He knew what they were going
to say before they said it. He judges, he discerns the thoughts
and intents of the heart. He knows what you're thinking
right now. Whether or not you're interested or not, you know.
We don't fool him. He heard that and he said unto
them, they that be whole don't need a position, but they that
are sick. Now you go and learn what that
means. We need to learn what that means.
I said, you go and learn what this means and I'll say something
else here. He quoted Hosea chapter 6. He
said, I'll have mercy, not sacrifice. I've not come to call the righteous
the religious. I've come to call sinners. To
what? To repentance. Bowing at his
feet in the dust. That's what repentance is. Begging
him for mercy. We better learn what this means. Do you know what this means?
This is the very foundation of true saving faith. This is where
it all starts. This is the very starting point
of all understanding. This is the place that God brings
all his people to in the dust, begging him, begging him for
mercy. We've never been to that point.
We haven't yet begun to see God in us, in our needs. Everybody
God saves, he brings to this point right here. Everybody.
Everybody. Sinners. He came to save sinners. But obviously, everyone doesn't
think they're all that bad. Guilt implies the need for mercy. And all the world is guilty,
but they don't know it. And guilty sinners that come
to God by Christ will be saved. Will be saved. Well, look at Psalm 51. Psalm 51. God brings all guilty
sinners to cry out unto Him for this great need. Mercy. Mercy. God helped somebody in
here this morning to see their need and to cry out for mercy. Mercy. Before it's ever less
than two, lay too late. Verse 1. The psalmist here, I'll not go
into the background of this psalm, it doesn't matter. It really
doesn't matter. We need mercy every morning. I read that a
while ago. Whether we've committed adultery or whatever it may be,
we need mercy. And he'll show us here in a minute
how the least sin is a death to God. It's not a little sin
at all. He cries out, have mercy upon
me, O God. Have mercy upon me, O
God. One thing needful. One thing
needful is mercy. Why? Because God is holy. God is holy. The scripture says if God should
mark iniquity, Psalm 130, Charles, if he should mark one sin, who
should stand? If God should mark iniquity,
if God should find fault with us, one fault, who's going to
stand? Nobody. Nobody. Why do we need mercy? Because
we're condemned. Scripture says, he that believeth in Christ is
not condemned, but he that believeth not He's already condemned under
condemnation. The wrath of God hangs over our
very heads. We're hanging over hell, swinging over hell on a
grapevine, somebody said. Already our rebellion, our ingratitude
because we don't acknowledge God. We don't thank Him for everything
that we have. We just now sung the song with
these lips. I wonder how far our hearts were
from that. Nothing have I gotten but what
I've received. Everything I have, God gave it
to me. Do we really acknowledge Him
in that way or do we go about acting as if we got what we got,
we earned what we got? Nothing have I gotten but what
I've received. Grace has bestowed it. God's
abundant grace to us. That we go on in rebellion and
gratitude and persistent in our sin, like we read there in Psalm
106. We've been rebellious and sinful all our lives, just like
the children of Israel, just like them. We've gone on through
our lives, just sin, rebellion after rebellion, not acknowledging
God. We still do it. And we're going
to do it tomorrow. What's our hope? Mercy. That God's mercy will endure
forever. Not stop tomorrow. Not stop the
next day. Not go for another month. The
Bible, I need it till I die. Till I die, I need His mercy.
Keep Your mercy on me, please. Keep Your mercy on me. We think
we need many things. And we go about our merry way
to accumulate them. But this world and everybody
and everything in it needs mercy. Mercy. We will see someday just
how badly we needed that mercy. God have mercy on this world.
God have mercy on this country. God have mercy on my family.
But look at what the psalmist says, God have mercy on me. It's a personal need. Do you
see your personal need? Not acknowledge in your head
that, yes, we're sinners. You know, self-righteous people
talk in general terms, don't they? Yes, we are sinners, aren't
we? Sinners that see their need of
mercy, they say, I am a sinner. There's no goodness in me. personal,
between you and God, unless until everybody in here, no matter
how young you are, sees your need, that you're going to have
to stand before God. Everybody, to the youngest person,
they're going to have to stand before God. Nobody's going to
stand for them. Except, maybe, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's a personal need between
you and your God. Nobody can pray for you. Nobody can believe
for you. Nobody knows you better than
you and God. God, we don't even know ourselves. We don't. He says, have mercy. Have mercy
on me, oh God. Oh God. God's the source. You don't appeal anywhere else.
You appeal to God. He's the one we've offended.
Oh, God. When we die, don't call for the
preacher. People are going to do it, though.
Don't call for me. Don't call for anybody else.
Don't call for advice. Call upon God. There's some people
right here that's going to call for the preacher as soon as they
get in trouble. As soon as they get on their
deathbed, if God spares them a few more minutes to enable
them If you add a few more words, they're going to call for the
preacher. You better call on God right
now. Have mercy on me. Oh God. Not anybody. God. It's between me and Him,
Henry. Me and Him. He's the only source
of life for dead sinners. And look at it. Look what He
appeals to here in verse 1. Oh God, have mercy upon me according
to your loving kindness. He doesn't have to show mercy,
does he? He doesn't have to. Well, what grounds is the psalmist
appealing to God? How does he call on this holy
God? What gives him the right to call
on God? What gives us the right to even call his name? Well, according to his loving
kindness. according to his loving kind. This is a plea to the kindness
of God. This is a plea to a God who's
kind beyond description. We just don't understand how
kind, we just don't understand how kind He's been to us. We
just don't understand it. Someday we're going to, and that's
the reason someday if by God's mercy and grace we get to glory,
to heaven. All we're going to be doing is
saying, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. We don't
understand it now. We're like dumb animals going
on our merry way and just every now and then thinking a little
bit. Someday we're going to see just how kind He was. Oh, how
He should. What He should have done, but
what He did. And that's what the psalmist
is pleading here. You love him because he's so
kind. Because he's so kind. You know, somebody said this
is real effectual prayer when you plead God's attributes. Go
to God. You want a prayer answer? Go to God pleading his attributes.
Lord, I'm no good. I'm a hell-deserving sinner,
but you're merciful. You're merciful, Lord. I'm unlovely. But you're love. You're love.
You're full of love. You just love people. And Lord,
I'm so wicked. But you're holiness. And you
can give it to them however you will. And you delight us, Lord. Would you show me some? According
to your loving kindness. And look at this. According to
the multitude. The multitude of your tender
mercies. You know, if God, somebody said
this, if God has only elected one person, why not me? Because there's nobody in here
deserves mercy. That's a misnomer. It's a contradiction
of terms, deserving mercy. Mercy implies your guilt. You
don't deserve anything but damnation. There's nobody in here deserves
mercy. Nobody. We've all seen to come
short of the glory of God, so if God's going to elect one person,
we knew he was going to elect one person. Barbara, why not
me? Why does it have to be you? Why
not me? Huh? You're no better or worse
than I am. Scripture says he delights to
show mercy. Scripture says he's got a people
as sand to the seashore and stars to the sky. Why not me, one of
them? Why not? According to the multitude of
your tender mercy, have mercy on me, O God, for you've got
plenty of it, and I sure need some. Would you show me some? Would you show me some? And His mercy is only found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. His mercy, He has mercy upon
guilty sinners. Why? Because he had no mercy
on his dear son. Because he poured out his wrath
on his own son who hung upon the tree for you, for me, perhaps
for you, I don't know. He did it for me. How do I know? Because I'm a sinner. And I've
appealed to him for mercy, and he's shown me mercy. Have you?
You have. And he did it for you. Yeah,
he did. because he poured out his wrath,
because he made his son to be sin. He took my sin and laid
it upon his son, and took his son's perfection, his righteousness,
and laid it upon me. Now, God has shown mercy, and
God has been gracious to me and accepted me. And look at this. He says, God have mercy on me. According to your love and kindness,
according to the multitude, that vast store of mercy that you
have, would you show me some of it? And Lord, don't forget
this, would you, I was asking a little much, I know, but would
you blot out my transgressions too? Would you blot out my transgressions?
You see, how can a man be just before God? This is the question.
This is the eternal question of all questions. How are you
and I going to stand before this God? We're sinners. God's holy,
he can't let us in. We come to his gate, his door,
and then he opens the door, someone opens the door, and they say,
who is it? It's me. Can't let you in. You're dirty. Got sin on you. Even if it's
just one. Can't let you in his holy presence,
can he? Can't do it. He's holy. Doesn't want us defiling
his presence. How are we going to get in? Hmm? How's God going to let us in
his presence when we've got sin on us? Only if he takes that
sin off of us, right? We've got a record. We've got
a record against us. And the thing we need more than
anything is to know that that record is clean. When we get
to God's presence, the thing we need more than anything is
not to stand up there trembling, thinking, hoping, not sure if
he's going to find anything on the books against me. He's got
a book with your name, and let's hope he doesn't find anything.
Open that book. Every man, the scripture says,
is going to stand before God to receive the things done in his body and
so forth. We need to know more than anything
that he ain't going to find anything on my case. That he can't find
anything. But it's clean. It's clean. You know, we're kind of like
condemned criminals. Kind of like condemned on death
row. You know, that man that's on death row that's awaiting
execution, they may let him out temporarily on furlough or whatever. I don't know. Sometimes they
do. They may let him out into the prison yard. He looks like
he's doing what he wants to do, doesn't he? He looks like a free,
he's a free agent. He can go and come as he pleases
in prison. But the judgment's coming. He
may look free, he may feel pretty good about himself, but judgment's
coming. And that's us. You know, the
only thing that would really make that man happy, if you used
to go up to him one day and say, you know something? There's a
governor's pardon laying on the desk of the warden, and it's
for you. If that man could find out that
there's no record against him, no record, that the record's
clean, that the blotted out, the transgressions is iniquity,
then he'd be happy. And that's what the psalmist
is praying for you. Would you take care of this thing
against me? Would you not hold it against
me? Would you blot it out, please? Verse 2. Wash me. Hey, what else do I need, he
says? I need my record to be cleared up. And not only that,
not only do I need to be justified, I have my record clear before
this holy God so I can stand in His presence. But I right
now, I want to be washed. Wash me throughly from my iniquity. I need a thorough cleansing.
Not just a sponge bath. I don't need just my actions.
I want my attitude straightened up. Not just my methods. I want my motives changed. Don't
you? Wash me throughly from my iniquity. Would you my sin? Not the nations,
my sin. My sin. And cleanse me. Look at this. Cleanse me. Cleanse
me from my sin. What can wash away my sin? What can cleanse me so that God
can see my awful iniquity? Nothing but the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what I need. First three, for
I acknowledge my transgressions. I own up to them. Have you owned
up to them? I acknowledge my transgressions.
That's the hardest thing. That's the hardest thing we have
to do on this earth. It's just to say, I'm guilty. Not only that, but to hate it.
To hate ourselves. Only God can do this. It's the
work of God. It's the work of God. I acknowledge my transgression.
My sin is ever before me. Ever before. I can't get rid
of this sin. Anybody got this problem? Can't get rid of it. It's always before you. Ever
before your eyes. Ever before me. My sin plagues
me. God Almighty, would you wash
me from this sin? Verse 4, Against thee and thee
only have I sinned. It's against God, against God,
that I've sinned and done this evil in his sight, right in plain
view for him to see. You know this thing, our lives,
our lives are like a one-way mirror. You've seen these one-way
mirrors? Somebody, you can see them all the time in different
businesses, where there's a man back there behind this mirror.
You're standing at the counter or whatever and you look and
all you see is a mirror. You see yourself. You turn around and
you leave and you forget what you look like. But behind that
mirror, there may be a man standing there watching you. Watching
your every move. You know these cameras they have
in stores? That's what our lives are like.
God sees us. That's what David said in Psalm
139. Thou, Lord, seest me. I'm not hid from you. If I go
to hell, I'll not be hid from you there. No matter where I
go, I'm not hid from you. God sees me. Yet the fool, the scripture says,
the fool says, God doesn't see me. We do this all the time,
don't we? Whatever little sin we may be
toying with, whatever thought, whatever action we toy with,
we play with, we really think. That's the only reason we could
be doing it. God's not noticing what I'm doing. God's not noticing.
Yes, He does. My sin is ever before me. God,
you see me against thee and thee only have I sinned. What I do
is against God. And He's just. Look at it. He
says that you might. What I've done is against you.
Right in plain view for you to see. In your sight. in order that thou may be justified
when you speak." Whenever God speaks against me, if He speaks
against me in the judgment, whatever He says about me, He's
going to be right to say it, whatever He says. We're not going
to be able to stand there like some people and say, but, but. No, we're going to say, right,
right, true. Whatever He says, John, whatever
He brings up, it's going to be true, it's going to be right.
He's going to be just and done. Scripture says about me now,
it says, none good, that's me. I ain't no good. You any good,
Father? I ain't no good. That's what
it says about me. No soundness in me from the sole
of my feet to the top, that's me. He's just to say that about
me, because that's me. There ain't no soundness in me.
There isn't any soundness in me. Scripture says all that's
thin that come far short of the glory, that's me. Scripture says none seeks after
God. That's me! I rarely seek after Him. Rarely. Scripture said they do
not like to retain God in their knowledge. That's me. Is that
you? That's me. I don't like to think
about God. I'd rather think about the ballgame. I'd rather think
about recipes, or dinner, or your children, or whatever. That's
me. Is that you? He's justified when He speaks,
isn't He? He's clear. Scripture says, we despised and
rejected Christ. That's me. Still do it. Still rather have my own righteousness
rather than Christ. Bow to Him. That's me. All of
us have turned our own way. That's me. Is that you? Donna,
is that you? Turned our own way. Going about our merry way, not
God's way. That's me. He's just when He speaks, isn't
He? He's just. And look at this, and he says
he's going to be clear when he judges. If I had to stand before
God in the judgment, I don't want to do it. But if I do, Henry,
he's going to be clear. He's going to say, if he says
to me, Paul, make him depart from me, you worker of iniquity
and the everlasting fire. Somebody bind him hand and foot
and cast him into the lake of fire. I'll get what I deserve. How about you? You'll get what's
coming to you. Have mercy on me. You see why this man's writing
this? Have mercy on me. You're going to be right to do
what you do. Why? Because I was shaping an
iniquity. I came out of my mama's belly,
speaking lies. You see these little children?
They're snakes in the grass, aren't they? Oh, we love them
dearly. But they're little snakes, and
they'll rise up to bite you on every hand, rebel against you.
Yes, they will. Poisonous. A little snake's as
bad as a big snake in it. Come out of the womb. complaining
and murmuring and crying in my way. Mine! That's the first thing
kids usually say. Mine! I do it! Shaping the iniquity and sin
did my mother conceive me. I've got bad blood. I come from
bad stock. Behold, verse 6, you desire truth
in the inward parts. I ain't got it. I may look pretty
good on the outside, My heart's bad. Bad. Desire truth in the inward part,
and in the hidden part, you'll make me know wisdom. Someday,
in my spirit and in my soul, you're going to make me know.
I hope he does it now. The first saving work God does
on the inside, I hope he does it now. Now. First thing God does is make
everyone see how hopelessly polluted they are. before this God. Not
just here, but down here in the inward part. Verse 7. So purge me. Lord, purge me. Purge me with
hyssop. What's that? I believe it's the
Word of God. Would you take this Word? Would you purge me with
it? Would you take this Word and
purge my system of all that self-righteousness? all my wrong thoughts and all
my wrong ways, and draw out and expose what I am, purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean." Draw out and expose. You remember
the old, there's an old saying, he said, you need to come clean.
Yeah, he came clean. That old fellow needs to come
clean. Well, that's us. We need to come
clean before God, honest. Barnard said, honest people never
wind up in hell. Man that comes clean before God. Honest. Naked. Open. What I've
done, I've done it to you, God. Not anybody. It's to you. And
I deserve your condemnation. When you're going to be right
to speak, you're going to be just send me to hell. But would you
purge me? Would you take this away from
me? Would you blot out my transgressions and purge me from this iniquity? Too many. And I shall be whiter than
snow. You ever felt dirty? I'm not talking physically dirty.
That's good, honest dirt. I'm talking dirty and guilty.
That's because of something you've done, or thought, or said, or
whatever. You ever felt dirty? Anybody?
Dirty. Filthy. Vile. Have you? Have you? felt dirty. I hope so. I hope somebody here
felt dirty. Unless you're dirty, you ain't
gonna be washed. You ain't gonna be washed. Boy, I tell you though,
if you feel dirty, Christ shed his blood on Calvary
to wash you from no sins. He ain't did nothing that the
precious holy blood of God's Lamb can wash us from our pollution. Dirty. Nothing can take away
the guilt that we feel because of sin but the blood of Christ.
Nothing. Well, let's go on. Verse 8. Make
me to hear joy and gladness. Would you make me to hear joy
and gladness? You know, the angels heralded
when they came glad tidings of great joy. The gospel. They came
preaching Christ. He's come. He's come. And you know, we pray with a
songless tear. Would you make me? Would you make me? God's
got to make us. I tried to pray a while ago.
Would you open our ears? Would you take our eyes and our
minds off of this foolishness? Just for a minute? Just for thirty
minutes? Would you arrest us? Would you
stop us and make us hear the gospel just for a minute? Stop
us in our tracks? Make us quit thinking about this
and that and the other? Would you grab ahold of me and
shake me and say, listen, make me hear the gospel? We ain't
going to hear it unless God stops us and makes us hear the gospel.
That was me as a young man, 18 years old, just skipping to my
little, my darling, you know, down the road. And God had to
stop me and turn my head around, it was
screwed on backwards, and sit me down and clothe me in my right
mind and say, now listen. And we're still this way, aren't
we? We're still this way. We've still
got our head in the gutter or wherever. We still think about
all manner of foolishness when a man gets up here and preaches
the gospel of our only hope, our salvation, our only hope.
Lord, would you make me hear this joy and gladness, would
you? Please, make me, that the bones
that you've broken may rejoice in my broken heart over many
things. Verse 9, boy, I hope the Lord
takes somebody and stops them and makes them hear the gospel.
My soul. Hide not your face from my sins,
or hide thy face from my sins. Don't hide your face from me,
but hide your face from my sins. And blot out, there he is again
saying, blot out my iniquities. He sees his real need before
God. This man did. He's a man after
God's own heart. Hide your face, don't see anything,
Lord. For Christ's sake, don't see
my sin. Create in me a clean heart."
We need to see that God has imputed a righteousness to us, that he
has given us a new spirit within us. Renew a right spirit within
me, a constant. That word right is constant,
a consistent spirit. Renew a right spirit within me.
A perfect spirit. And by virtue of Christ's righteousness
in me, verse 11, don't cast me away. Don't cast me away from
your presence. Please, Lord, don't. Don't take
your Holy Spirit from me. You know something that's good
news? He can't. He won't. He won't. If he's put his spirit
within you, he won't. He said, he won't leave you.
He said, I won't leave you. I won't leave you without help,
without strength. He said, I'll never leave you, but I'll send
somebody for you, a comforter. I'll send a comforter for you,
my spirit to abide with you and bring you safely home. David knew this. He's the one
that said, although my house be not so with God, yet he's
made with me. David said, Me! Yes, me! Although
everybody else is not following him, David said, He's made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. But right
here he's saying, I sure hope you don't leave me. Don't cast
me away from your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit from
me. He won't, if he ever gave it to you. He won't. Restore
unto me the joy." Restoration is what we need. Restored to
the God whom we're separated from, that's what we need. Restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation. Don't you know Adam after he
sinned and brought that misery on himself and his family? Don't
you know he stopped and thought? Now, how many times did Adam
think, oh, I wish it was like he did? Don't you, how many times do
you reckon Adam prayed, Lord would you restore it like it
was, Lord make it like it was. And you know, that may be the
case for somebody in here. You were, oh, the gospel once
was sweet to you. It touched your heart every time
it was preached. Every time, it seems like. It
was sweet to you, it was zeal for God. You'd tell anybody,
at the drop of a hat, you'd tell anybody about your Lord, you
know. Lost a little bit of his sweetness. Well, a whole lot
of it. And you think, oh, I wish it was like it used to be. Barnard called it that sweetheart
love. I wish I had that sweetheart love again. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. Used to rejoice in it more than
anything else. Now perhaps you're taken up with
something else. Lost your first love. Uphold me with your free
spirit. Then, he says in verse 13, then,
then will I teach the transgressors thy way. This is the only right
bargain you can make with God. This is the only bargain you
can make with God. Lord, if you save me, I'll tell everybody
about it. Lord, if you'll restore me like
it was, I'll try to tell everybody about it. I will. Save me, Lord, and I'll
tell others. Verse 14, deliver me from guilt. Oh, God, my God, the God of my
salvation, my tongue shall sing. Lord, I'm not going to be able
to sing unless you do something for me. I sing these songs and
they don't mean anything to me. Lord, please. Lord, please. Verse 15, open
my lips. Or if you open my heart and open
my lips, then I'll show forth your praise like it ought to
be. Then. You don't desire sacrifice, that's
what Christ said, what we read in Matthew 9. You don't desire
sacrifice, my works, else I'd give it. You don't delight in
burnt offering, uh-uh. Sacrifices of God are broken
spirit and broken in a contrite heart, O God. I will not despise. And nothing in my hands that
God will accept. That all I've got, you go to
God and you say, Lord, all I've got is this old broken heart.
That's all I've got. All I've got is this old broken
down old heart. Now, you're going to have to
fix it. You're going to have to do something about it. That's
all I've got. He says he won't despise it. Another place he says this is
the person he's going to dwell with. Another place he says he
delights in it. A broken heart. See why I'm preaching
like this? Because he delights to show mercy.
Mercy. He doesn't delight to accept
our works or whatever. He's not proud of us. By nature
he is. He needs to be ashamed of us.
He is ashamed of us by our nature. But he delights in your mercy.
You see, it glorifies his person. It glorifies him. Well, do good. 18. Do good and
not good pleasure unto the church. I know he's almost like he's
saying this. I know you're going to do good
to your people. You ever felt this way? Lord,
I know you're going to save old Henry. I know you are. I'm just
pretty confident of that. Your church, Violet, I know she's
been here so long and this and that. I just know you're going
to save them. You're going to build the walls
of Jerusalem. I know you are. I know you are. You're going to have a people.
You're going to have a family. I know you are. He said you were. Would you count me in? Would
you count me in there? When you open that book, would
you find my name in there? Then shalt thou be pleased with
sacrifices of righteousness. Only when you consider me a child
will you be pleased with my pitiful little works." Burnt offerings,
old burnt offerings. Then, then only will I be accepted
after you show mercy to me and count me as righteous in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Give no sinner like me. I hope God will enable you to
pray this prayer. Have mercy on me, oh God. We need it, whether you know
it or not. I hope God will show you, cause
you to know it. Young and old, stand with me
and I'll dismiss this in prayer. Our merciful God, we delight, we rejoice in your gospel and
your salvation. That's in Christ and in him alone. We ask that you would point us
to Christ, away from ourselves, away from this world, according
to the by loving kindness according to the multitude of your tender,
tender mercies. Somebody in here, Lord, doesn't know you, doesn't care,
maybe. God have mercy on their soul,
and God have mercy on me, for Christ's sake. Amen.