We're glad his arm's not shortened, so he can reach all the way down. All right, let's open our Bibles
again to Psalm 67. I've titled this message, A Mercy
Beggar's Prayer. If you would beg God for mercy
and you can't find the words, my advice is just read this Psalm
and make this your prayer. It's a good mercy beggar's prayer. I want you to show you three
aspects of this mercy beggar's prayer. I love how this psalm
begins with the cry for mercy. And that's the first thing about
a mercy beggar's prayer. The cry for mercy is all the
way through it. He begins here in verse one,
Psalm 67. God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his
face to shine upon us. Now this prayer begins, God be
merciful to us. Certainly that is our prayer,
God be merciful to us, isn't it? But we're in the throes of it.
God's given us some sense of who and what we are. And we're
along with Almighty God. Our prayer is God be merciful
to me. God be merciful to me. I need mercy. I'm guilty of sin. I'm a sinner through and through. You know, when we ask for mercy,
the first thing we're doing is admitting we're guilty of sin.
If we weren't guilty, there'd be no need for mercy. The only
person that needs mercy is a guilty person. Mercy is God not giving
us what we deserve. Mercy is God not giving us the
damnation and the punishment that our sin deserves. So we
need mercy. We need mercy because of what
we are in Adam. You and I did what Adam, our
representative, did in the garden. But what did Adam do in the garden?
Well, he sinned against God. In open, willful rebellion, knowing
exactly what he was doing, he ate that fruit. And the result
of that sin is death. Now it wasn't a surprise to Adam.
God told Adam it would happen. He said, Adam, in the day you
eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. And literally translated,
God told Adam, Adam, the day you eat that, the moment you
eat this fruit, dying, thou shalt die. Adam, you will instantly
die spiritually, and you will begin dying physically. And you'll
die the second death, unless God intervenes in mercy. And
the same thing's true of you and me. We did what Adam did.
We sinned when Adam sinned. We died when Adam died. Then
God be merciful to me. God, don't give me the eternal
death that I deserve. And I also need mercy because
of who I am in myself. And you do too. Now, we're guilty
in Adam. We became guilty and condemned
in Adam. But many years later when I was
born, I was born with Adam's nature. I was conceived from
Adam's sinful seed. I was born with Adam's sin nature.
So all I've ever done is sin. My every action, my every thought,
my every desire has been disobedience to almighty God. You've got the same nature I
do. Then our cry is, God be merciful to me to sin. God, don't give
me what I've got coming to me. You know, that's what we all
want in this world, isn't it? Just give me what I got coming
to me. Well, maybe other places that might be so, but not before
God. God, don't give me what I've got coming to me. Don't
give me the wrath and the punishment that I've earned. Don't give
me justice. God, give me mercy. Give me mercy. God, be merciful to me. Now you see this, the only person
who will cry out to God for mercy is a guilty sinner. If we were
innocent, we wouldn't need it. But this matter of sin against
God is serious, serious business. It's not like Brother Henry said
when I stole a watermelon. It's not when we told a little
white lie. It's not when we stole an extra cookie from the cookie
jar. Sin against God is insurrection against God upon the cross. That's
what all sin is. That's exactly what Adam was
doing in the garden. Adam wanted to be God. You know,
Satan came and told Eve, you eat this fruit, you'll be as
God's. Adam wasn't trying to be as God, knowing good and evil.
Adam wanted to be God, determining good and evil. He didn't want
anybody else telling him what was good and what was evil. He
didn't want anybody else telling him what to do. That's insurrection
against almighty God, against his throne, against his crown
rights to rule. And that's what sin still is
today. The nature of sin has not changed. All of our sin is
insurrection against God's government. Now that's serious. I mean, none
of us would think a thing about a king executing somebody who
tried to unlawfully take his throne. We wouldn't think a thing
about it. He'd be justified in doing it. And anybody who begins
going down this path, planning a coup against the king knows
this. If it fails, we're going to be
put to death. I mean, they go in knowing that
because that's what should happen. Well, our sin is insurrection
against God's throne, trying to take God off the throne. It's trying to say, God cannot
rule over me from the throne of heaven. I want to be my own
God. And what does that deserve? That
sin deserves eternal death. Then our cry is, God, be merciful
to me. God, save me for Christ's sake. Save me for mercy's sake. Don't
save me because of anything I've done. Save me in spite of what
I've done. God, be merciful to me. Save
me, not because of who I am, but in spite of who I am. God
be merciful. I'm guilty. Well, here is good
news for guilty sinners. You know, God said he delights
to show mercy to sinners. It delights him. And it delights
him for many reasons, I'm sure, but I thought of this. It delights
God because a cry for mercy puts everything, puts both us and
God in our proper place. A cry for mercy puts us in our
proper place, in the dust, guilty before God, helpless before Him,
in need for God to do something for us we can't do for ourselves.
That's a cry for mercy. That puts us in our proper place. And a cry for mercy also puts
God in His proper place. It puts God on the throne where
salvation is up to Him. He doesn't have to show me mercy.
I've sinned against Him. But I'm begging him for it and
I'm staying right there. That's my proper place in the
dust at his feet, begging for mercy because I've got no other
hope. And God delights in that. He delights to show mercy to
sinners, guilty sinners down in the dust. And crying for mercy
puts us on good ground to receive mercy from God. The publican
that we read about to open service cried for mercy. Said the very
same thing David did. I don't care whether you're King
David, the man after God's own heart, or a lying, cheating,
stealing publican. This is our cry. God be merciful
to me. Our Lord said that man, that
poor mercy beggar, went down to his house, justified. Oh my, a mercy beggar. But now, I want you to get a
hold of this. This just thrilled my soul this
week as I was studying this. I want you to notice here, now
here's a mercy beggar, just a dirty, guilty, rotten beggar down in
the dust. But look at the boldness of a
mercy beggar. God be merciful to us and bless
us. and bless us. God, don't give
me the justice and the wrath that I deserve. Spare my life
from destruction. I deserve it, but spare my life
in mercy. And while you're showing mercy,
bless us. That's boldness, isn't it? Now,
Lord, don't just spare me the punishment I deserve. Do spare
me the punishment I deserve, but don't just send me away in
my rags. Send me away rich. Also send
me away rich. Send me away with access to all
your storehouses of grace. Yes, I tried to take you off
the throne. Yes, I cried crucify your son. Yes, I put your son to death,
but spare my life and give me the keys to his room. That's
what he's saying here. Don't just not punish me, but
make me innocent. Don't just spare me the punishment
that I deserve, but on top of that, make me one of your sons,
one of your daughters. Don't just spare my life, but
lift this dirty, rotten beggar from the dunghill and set me
among the princes at your table and give me free access to you
anytime I need you. That's what he's asking for here.
Lord, don't be a judge. I've seen a judge do this, who
frowns down at the defendant. Now, he's not going to punish
the defendant, but he frowns. He says, now, go on. You go on. You go your way. I'm
not going to throw you in jail. But don't you come back here
again. Don't you ever let me see your
face again. If I do, if I ever see your face near again, I'll
throw the book at you. You've seen that on TV. I actually saw
that in court one time. Wow, judges really say that.
Here's what David's saying. This mercy beggar's saying. Don't
be a judge like that. Don't tell me, go on, go your
way and don't ever let me see your face again, because my way
is a way of sin and death. So don't tell me that. Don't
punish me and make your smiling face. Don't frown at me. Smile at me. Make me your friend. Lord, don't
kill me like I deserve, but also give me life in Christ. Command
the light to shine out of darkness and shine in my heart to give
the light of the knowledge of glory, the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. Now that's the mercy beggars
prayer. Lord, I'm guilty, but don't give
me what I deserve. And then on top of it, make me
what you're pleased with. That's boldness, isn't it? Oh,
that's boldness. Now what would give a guilty
sinner that kind of boldness? I mean, I love that boldness.
But do you got the guts to do that? What gives a guilty sinner
the boldness to do that? I'll tell you what it is. It's
the character of God and the character of His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. The character of God is to be
merciful to sinners. And the character of Christ the
Savior is perfect. It's loving, it's accepting.
Look at Hebrews chapter four. The character of Christ the Savior
is perfect. And that makes the father well
pleased with him. Our boldness doesn't come because
of who we are. It comes because of who the Savior
is. Hebrews four, verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly
under the throne of grace, confidently. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Even though we're guilty,
you and I can beg for mercy in boldness because of who God is
and who Christ is. It's because God delights. God
the Father delights to show mercy to sinners in his son. He's so
delighted with the perfection of his son, he delights to show
mercy for his son's sake. So the mercy beggar's prayer
is, Lord, have mercy upon me for Christ's sake, for Christ's
sake. Don't give me what I deserve,
because you already gave Christ my substitute, what I deserve. You already gave my substitute
the wrath and the justice and the death that I deserve, so
don't give it to me for Christ's sake, because you already gave
it to my substitute. God, don't give me what I've
earned, Have mercy on me for Christ's sake and give me what
Christ earned for me. Now that's begging for mercy
for Christ's sake. And that's what gives us boldness.
It's for Christ's sake. I want to give you three reasons
why begging for mercy for Christ's sake is wise. Number one, it's
wise because the father is well pleased with his son. He'll always
give mercy for Christ's sake. You just drop his name. You just
drop the name of the son before the father. He is so pleased
with his son. He'll always give mercy to you
if it can glorify his son. God have mercy on me for Christ's
sake. Second, it's wise to beg for mercy for Christ's sake because
Christ is the perfect Savior. There's no blemish in it. He's
already established righteousness for his people. He's already
justified his people. Salvation in Christ is a sure
thing. Then ask for it for Christ's
sake. Thirdly, begging for mercy for Christ's sake is wise. Because brethren, mercy is our
only hope. Are you guilty? I mean, you are,
but do you know it? Are you guilty? What hope do
you have? None other than mercy do we.
Look at verse 2 in our text, Psalm 67. Have mercy upon us. Make your face shine upon us
that thy way may be known upon the earth, thy saving health
among all the nations. Father, be merciful to us. Let
your face shine upon us for your glory sake, that your way of
salvation in Christ be known, that your mercy be known in the
earth. God be merciful to us. Mercy for Christ's sake is a
good hope. Christ is all you got. That's
a good hope. And that's all through this prayer
of a mercy beggar is God be merciful to us. But here's the second
thing. The mercy beggar's prayer also
praises God for his mercy. Verse three, let the people praise
thee, O God. Let all the people praise thee.
Now first, a mercy beggar begs God for mercy, and then he praises
God for his mercy. And we praise God for his mercy,
first of all, because God's mercy is great. God's rich in mercy. His mercy is so great. God is
so rich in mercy. His storehouses of mercy are
so great. God has enough for every sinner
from all over the world. Remember in the Joseph in Egypt,
in those years of plenty, Joseph was storing up corn in storehouses.
How many storehouses do you reckon he built when he filled with
corn? And a time of famine came and the people were hungry. They
had nothing to eat. They came to Pharaoh and said,
we want something to eat. He said, go Joseph. That's God's
a father. You want mercy? He says, go to my son. Go to
my son. People came, said Joseph, we're
hungry. Joseph got to camp. Joseph opened the storehouses.
People were fed. I want to tell you, those storehouses
did not run dry until a crop came in. That's God's mercy. His storehouse is so great. I don't care how much mercy you
need. I don't care how great of a sinner you are. I don't
care how guilty you are. You come to God for mercy and
you keep coming and you keep coming and you keep coming. And
you keep coming and you'll never exhaust it. You reckon little
old field mouse ran in there and started eating on Joseph's
corn. Joseph was all that worried about it. I got plenty. I got, go on little mouse. Eat
to your full. I got plenty. That's what God
tells us. Come eat. Come eat to your full. I got plenty. Be rich in mercy. God is great in mercy. No matter how great of a sinner
we are, God's mercy is greater. Nobody is so far away from God,
God's mercy can't find them. Nobody's down there so low at
the bottom of the barrel, God's mercy can't reach way down and
pluck them out. God's mercy is great. We praise
him for it. Second, we praise God for his
mercy because God gives mercy in justice. Look here at verse
four. This is something only God could
conceive. Only God would arrange salvation this way. Men would
never think of something so brilliant. God gives mercy and justice.
Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy for thou shalt judge
the people righteously and govern the nations upon the earth. David's
praising God here. God's going to judge the earth
in righteousness. He's praising God. God's going
to give everybody exactly what they deserve. No more, no less. And the mercy beggar says, whoa,
wait a minute. That sounds pretty scary because
I'm begging for mercy. I'm begging God not to give me
what I deserve. Here's why we praise God for
his mercy and his truth, for his grace and his justice. If
Christ died for you, Christ died for you. God's justice demands
that God be merciful to you. If Christ died for you, God would
be unjust to condemn you. So he gives you what you deserve,
what Christ earned for you, what Christ gave you. God's justice
has already been poured out on Christ our substitute. And that's
what thrilled Luther. When he said, payment God cannot
twice demand. First at my bleeding surety's
hand and then again at mine. Can't be done. God never demand
payment from me. It's already been made. Justice
has already been satisfied. So the thing that makes God's
mercy sure is not just that God's a nice old grandpa and he wouldn't
ever hurt anybody, you know, God's mercy is sure. It's not
that he swept the dirt under the rug. Somebody come lift that
rug up and still find the dirt. God didn't sweep the dirt under
the rug. He put it away with the blood of his son so that
it doesn't exist. You think of that a few moments,
you take this cup of wine, you think what that wine represents.
God shed the blood of his son, sacrificed the blood of his son
to make the sin of his people to not exist, to justify them. So there's no reason for God
to even want to condemn anybody for whom Christ died. He must
be merciful to them. He wants to be merciful to them.
He will be merciful to them. That's what Christ purchased
for them. And a mercy beggar praises God for salvation that
sure, God is both just and justifier. Every single time God shows mercy
to a sinner, he does it in justice. Punish their sin in the person
of Christ, their substitute. And the wisdom of that is so
glorious. It's so grand. We have to praise
God for it, don't we? Thirdly, we praise God for his
mercy. because God's mercy is sovereign
mercy. At the end of verse four it says,
God will judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon the
earth. Now God governs. He sits upon
the throne. He governs. He rules over everything
that happens in his creation. He's sovereign over it. Nothing
happens that's against his will. Not one thing. Not one thing. You apply that to your life.
We get bad news from the doctor. The phone rings. We get bad news
about one of our loved ones. We open up the mail. Bad news. And there are times you think
it's absolutely rocked you. So it's going to knock you down
and you can't get up and you think this is so evil. How could
this happen? Child of God. Remember this,
God governs. He governs in the nations. He
rules in his creation. Nothing happens that's against
his will. Not one thing. And since God
is sovereign over everything, that's what makes his mercy to
his people sure. That's what makes sure it can
never be wasted. God rules to apply that mercy
to his people. In eternity, before God created
anything, God chose a people to save. He chose a people to
show mercy to in His Son. How do we know out of all the
billions of people that lived and all the events of their lives,
how do we know those people will receive mercy and be saved? How
do you know for sure? One of them won't slip through
the cracks. That's a lot of people. It's because God governs the
nations. God arranges every event in human
history to accomplish this one purpose, his purpose of mercy
for his people, his purpose of redemption for his people. I
don't understand how he does it, but I know he does it because
his word says so. And God arranges every event
of our lives, the lives of his people. So we're brought to the
place that we hear the gospel of his son. God's the one. He's sovereign now. This is all
of him. Salvation is all of him. He's
the one who makes his people see their need of Christ. They
were going along doing what they do, had no need. And suddenly
they felt a need of Christ. They felt a need of the gospel.
What happened? Good governance in the nation. That's what happened.
He made them, he salted them. He made them thirsty. He made
them feel their need of Christ. God's the one who breaks that
rebel, that stiff necked rebel and makes that rebel beg for
mercy. And then God's the one who gives mercy to the people.
He may beg for it. So that's God's sovereignty on
display. And all we praise God for his
sovereignty in salvation. That's the only way we know for
sure his people shall be saved from their sin. And God's the
one who governs the nations and keeps his people safe, keeps
them in his mercy. God's still sovereign over everything. so that he will not let his people
leave his hands. He won't let his people leave
the scope of his mercy. God governs the nations to be
sure he never runs out of mercy for anybody that needs it. You
need mercy? Come and get it. Come ask God
for it. He sovereignly gives it. And
we praise God for it, don't we? Oh, how we praise God for it.
So that's our first two points. The cry for mercy is all through
this prayer. And we praise God for it. It's
what I said about Dave in the public in a minute ago. The worst,
so-called worst, rebel that you think of and the oldest, most
solid believer in the faith that you know have the same cry. God,
be merciful. Don't you ask for mercy every
day. Every day in my prayer, I try to start, I try to remember
to always start my prayer there. God be merciful. Thank you for
your mercy. I couldn't come before you without
mercy. I need your mercy. And that worst
rebel and the oldest believer both cried, praise God for his
mercy. It's my only hope. The only way
I could know God, the only way I could be saved. Right, here's
the third thing. The result of the mercy beggar's
prayer is eternal life. Verse six. Then shall the earth
yield her increase, and God, even our God, shall bless us. Now then, after God's purpose
of mercy in Christ has been carried out, after Christ has come and
accomplished the salvation of his people, after Christ satisfies
justice for his people and justifies them in his sacrifice, after
the Holy Spirit comes and makes his people cry out as a mercy
beggar, then, then, God will give life. He didn't say maybe
God will give life. Sometimes God will give life.
God will give life. That's what the earth yielding
her increase means. The earth shall yield her increase. The earth yielding her increase
is a picture of spiritual life. When God causes life to grow
in the hearts of his people. Because God the husbandman came
and he prepared their hearts. He made their hearts good ground.
to receive the seed of the word sown by the preaching of the
gospel. There will always be an increase when God does that,
when God prepares the heart and he sends the word out in power,
the seed out in power, there'll always be an increase. Some 30
fold, some 60, some 100, but there'll always be some increase.
There'll always be life giving, there'll always be growth and
grace, always. So the result of the mercy beggar's
prayer is sure, certain mercy. God shall bless us. He shall bless us. He shall bless
us. How can you be so sure? Because
God cannot fail to bless his people. God's purpose of mercy
will always result in eternal life for his people. Verse seven,
God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear
you. God shall bless His people because His purpose of mercy
cannot fail to save them. And I know, David says, he said
here earlier, let all the people praise Thee. I know all the people
ought to praise God. All the ends of the earth should
praise God, but they won't. But I do know this, all the mercy
beggars will. All the guilty sinners will.
Mercy beggars from every corner of the globe, from every nation,
from every generation, they'll feed They'll come and they'll
reverence and they'll praise the Lord for His mercy, because
His mercy could not fail to save them. You see, God cannot turn
away from doing good to His people. He can't do it. He purposed to
save them in eternity. His glory depends upon Him saving
them. God determined to be merciful
to people. His glory depends upon Him being
merciful to them. He purposed to save a people
in eternity. And then God blesses those people
because he chose to be merciful to them. God sent his son to
die for those people and to make them righteous. And then God
blesses them for being righteous. He blesses them because he made
them righteous. God's the one who put it in the heart of that
mercy beggar to pray this mercy beggar's prayer. And then God
blesses him for praying it. Who does this all go back to?
It's what God's done for His people. The result of the mercy
beggar's prayer is blessing. And the blessing is life in Christ. And God cannot turn away from
doing good to His people because Christ, His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior, purchased it with His sacrifice upon Calvary
Street. And that's what the elements
of this table represent. Christ willingly went to Calvary
and He gave His body to be broken. He gave His body to be punished
for the sin of His people. He gave His lifeblood to be shed
upon the altar of sacrifice to satisfy the wrath of God as God
crushed Him. The Father crushed Him in judicial
power. He crushed Him as a substitute
for His people and crushed Him just like a grape. It's juice
just splatters when it's crushed in the wine, in the vat there
where they stomped the graves. His body was broken. His blood
was splattered because the father crushed him in justice. That sacrifice, he purchased
mercy for his people. He purchased salvation for his
people, which lets us cry, God be merciful to me and receive
it for Christ's sake, because he bought it with his sacrifice.
That lets us observe this table with joy, with joy and thanksgiving. All right, Wayne, you men distribute
the bread.