Save Me For Thy Mercies' Sake

Q: What does the Bible say about repentance?

The Bible presents repentance as a critical act of turning back to God, acknowledging one's sin, and seeking His mercy. Repentance is essential in the life of a believer, as it represents a heartfelt response to the awareness of sin and a desire to return to fellowship with God. Psalm 6 illustrates this beautifully with David's plea for mercy amidst his conviction of sin. He turns to God, recognizing his weakness and pleading for forgiveness rather than asserting his status as king. This attitude reflects true repentance: an acknowledgment of one's frailty before God and a reliance on His mercy rather than personal merit. Moreover, the example of our Lord Jesus demonstrates how deeply He identified with human weakness and the necessity of repentance, showing us that acknowledging our sin is integral to our relationship with God.

Q: How do we know God's mercy is essential?

God's mercy is essential as it underpins the relationship between Him and His people, especially in their times of need. The mercy of God serves as the foundation for our prayer life and relationship with Him, especially when we experience the weight of our sin. In Psalm 6, David cries out, 'Save me for thy mercy's sake,' showing a deep understanding that apart from God's mercy, there is no hope. Our Lord Jesus, as our surety, fully grasped this, perfectly embodying the plea for mercy even in His anguish. The biblical narrative consistently demonstrates that, without God's mercy, we cannot stand; thus, humility and dependence on God's mercy are vital for the believer. Jesus' cries in moments of despair reinforce that understanding; He exemplifies the necessity of God’s mercy for our deliverance from sin's grasp.

Q: Why is confession of sin important for Christians?

Confession of sin is a vital practice for Christians as it restores fellowship with God and acknowledges our need for His grace. Confessing our sins is not merely a ritual; it is a necessary act that reflects our understanding of our standing before a holy God. David's plea for mercy in Psalm 6 emphasizes the importance of acknowledging our weakness and sinfulness. Without confession, we run the risk of severing our relationship with God by failing to recognize our need for His grace. Our Lord, identified with our afflictions, exemplifies the need for confession as He bears the sins of His people, knowing the agony of sin's consequences. This underscores that our walk with Christ involves continual recognition of our failures and dependence upon His atoning work. Confession allows believers to experience healing, restoration, and a deepened relationship with the Eternal Father.

Q: How does Jesus identify with our struggles?

Jesus identifies with our struggles as our representative and high priest, fully experiencing the pain and trials of human life. The profound identification of Jesus with our struggles is prominently illustrated in Psalm 6 and the New Testament writings. Jesus, in His humanity, experienced the full weight of sin's anguish, as seen in His heartfelt agonies in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He prayed intensely, knowing the imminent wrath for our sins. In Hebrews 2:17, it states that He was made like us in every way, reflecting His complete understanding of the human condition. This identity allows Him to be our merciful high priest, perfectly suited to intervene on our behalf. Knowing that Jesus intimately understands our pain and struggles provides comfort and assurance that we are never alone in our trials. This reality encourages believers to cast their cares upon Him, knowing He is sympathetic to our weaknesses and struggles.

Turn back to Psalm chapter 6. Psalm chapter 6. Title of this message, Go save
me for thy mercy's sake. Took the title out of verse 4.
Save me for thy mercy's sake." Now, this psalm is called the first psalm of
repentance. There are seven psalms in the
Psalms recognized as psalms of repentance, and this is the first
one. It is a psalm of David, and David is writing about his
soul trouble, his conviction of sin that he's going through,
and he's asking God not to deal with him in his hot displeasure. I don't want God to deal with
me like that either. That's the way he deals with the wicked. What I want us to see first here
is this. The first application of this
psalm is to our greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
our surety, praying here. When you go through the scriptures,
You go through the Psalms, and I've learned to do this, and
I believe you've learned to do this, but look for Christ first. Look for Him first, and in this
Psalm, I want us to look at Him first and not second. And he says here in verse 1,
and you read this, and you say, how does that apply to Him? Rebuke
me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
Have mercy upon me." You know, that applies to me, but how does
that apply to him? This shows us how identified
our Lord is with us. It says over in Isaiah 63, 9,
look over there, over in Isaiah 63, 9. In all their affliction, in all
their affliction, He was affected. He knows everything that I go
through. Everything that touches me touched
Him before it touched me. So the first application here
is to our surety. Now He says, And that's capital
L-O-R-D, Jehovah, the self-existing one, the self-sufficient one. And he says this several times
throughout this psalm. O Lord, rebuke me not in thine
anger. Our Lord felt and he knew something
of the anger of God against sin. No one, no one has ever known
the full measure of God's hatred against sin like Christ. He knew
it. He was there when Adam fell and
kicked out of the garden. He was there when God flooded
the earth. He was there. And when he was
made to be sin for us, He who knew no sin, when he was made
to be sin, he felt and knew the guilt of sin. And he knows the
anger of God against sin. He knew that God hated sin and
that God would deal with sin, and He would deal with sin harshly.
He knew that. When he's in the garden of Gethsemane
and he's sweating great drops of blood, that's agony. That's agony. And that agony comes from being
made sin and knowing that God is about to deal with him over
sin. He knows that. And he felt that. Look over in Hebrews chapter
5. This applies to our Lord. Hebrews chapter 5. And I know
I cannot bring this out, bring out what's really here. But I
want us to see through this whole psalm how he identifies with
us. how he so won with us. In Hebrews
5, look in verse 7. Who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death,
and was heard, and that he feared. though he were a son at the capital
S. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Yet learned he obedience by the
things which he suffered. He suffered. But it says here
that when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
crying and tears, we read in the Gospels where he went out
and he prayed all night long in the garden of Gethsemane.
Three times he went away and prayed. O Lord, rebuke me not in thine
anger. This is also a cry of a child
of God. Rebuke me not. And I'm not saying
don't rebuke me. We need that, don't we? Only
a fool would say don't ever correct me now. We need rebuke. But Lord, rebuke me not in your
hot displeasure, in your anger. Neither chasten me in thy hot
displeasure. Chasing me, but chasing me in
love. Chasing me with a rod of love.
We know what we deserve, don't we? You do if God saved you,
you know what you deserve. But we also know what we need.
Mercy. Mercy. He says in verse 2, have
mercy upon me. Oh, have mercy upon me. Oh Lord,
for I'm weak. I'm weak. I'm glad David here doesn't plead
his kingship, his position. Our Lord never pleads, I'm your
son. He just says, I'm weak. He's telling us, he's showing
us here how to plead. Let's follow his example. I'm weak. Paul said what? When I'm weak, then am I strong.
I'm weak, oh Lord, heal me. This is what I need, spiritual
healing. Heal me. For my bones, he said, my bones
are vexed. I tell you what, a true conviction
of sin breaks the heart. It breaks the heart. And a true
conviction to sin not only breaks the heart, it affects my whole
being. It affects my whole being. Look
over in Psalm 22. Listen to our Lord. He says, I'm poured out like
water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax,
it's melted into the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried
up like a pot shirt, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou
hast brought me into the dust of death. Look in verse 17. I
may tell or count all my bones, they look and stare upon me.
He said, verse 2, have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak.
O Lord, heal me from my bones. Our text. This is our surety. This is our
Lord praying here. He knows what a real conviction
of sin is. He knows what it is. He knows. And He says, My soul also, in
verse 3, My soul also, My soul is also sore vexed with thou,
Lord, O how long? My soul was also sore vexed. Look over in Matthew 26 to show you this is our Lord
speaking, praying. In Matthew 26, Look in verse 38. Then saith
he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful. My soul is sore vexed,
even unto death. Tear ye here, and watch with
me. And he went a little further, and he fell on his face, and
he prayed. My soul, he said, is exceeding
sorrowful. And what he's saying here is,
Father, if you don't do something. I know we can't comprehend this,
but he's saying, and he means this, this is not just words.
This is real. He said, Father, if you don't
do something. Right now, I'm going to die right here. I'm
going to die right here. My soul is exceeding sorrowful
even unto death. I'm going to die right here if
I don't get help. That's soul trouble. That's soul
pain. Our Lord knew what it was to
be vexed with sin. He knew that. He knew no sin,
but he knew what it was to be vexed with it when he was made
to be sin. In all things, the Scripture
tells us he was made like unto his brethren. Look over in Hebrews
chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. I started out working on this
today as a psalm of repentance and how It applies to us, but
then I got to reading it, and oh, I could just see our surety.
This is Christ. And the comfort it gives me to
know that He so identifies with me in this. What did I tell you
ago? Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter
2. Wherefore, in verse 17, wherefore,
Now you listen, in all things, in all things it behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful,
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. But in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren. Therefore, when our
soul is vexed, with sin, trouble, trouble and cast down. We have
one who knows what that's all about. We have one who knows
exactly. I mean, he knows to the T what
that's all about. And here he says in verse 3,
O Lord, O Jehovah, and it's like he runs out of words. How long? How long? There have been a few
people that have gone through such trials that this is all
they can say. They've come to the end of themselves
and they say, Lord, how long? How long is this going to go
on? How long is this heart going to be broken? How long am I going
to be cast down? How long is your hand going to
be heavy upon me? How long? I'll tell you how long
until His purpose is accomplished. That's how long. How long? Tells me this also. He says,
O Lord, how long? He says, when will the end of
this come? When will the end of this happen?
Tells me this. There is an end to it. Whatever
it is, there is an end to it. Our Lord said, how long? Oh,
Lord, how long? Well, it ends it for him at the
cross, doesn't it? When he gave up the ghost, his
sufferings were over. He's not suffering now. And I
know whatever I'm going through. And there may be times yet that
I'll say, Lord, how long? How long? But I can be sure of this, there
is an end to it when his purpose is accomplished in that trial for me. It says in verse 4, return. Oh,
return. It's like he's gone away. He
can't find him. Have you seen my beloved? Here David is saying,
oh, return. He can't even find God. He can't
find comfort. You know, I tell you what, a
true conviction of sin, there are times you can't find any
comfort and you won't find any comfort until he returns, until
you find him, until you find him. Oh, Lord, deliver my soul. Oh, save me for thy mercy's sake.
You say, could that be the prayer of our Lord? Yes, it is. As our
surety, as our representative, as our substitute, yes. Turn
over to Psalm 40. Psalm 40. It says here in verse 5, Many, O
Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and
thy thoughts which are to us worth, they cannot be reckoned
up in order unto thee. If I will declare or speak of
them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice an offering
thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened, digged.
Burnt offering and sin offerings hast thou not required. Then
said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy
law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips.
O Lord, thou knowest. Who's that speaking of? Who's
speaking there? Who's speaking? The Lord Jesus
Christ. Is that right? Is that Him speaking? Look in verse 11. Withhold not
thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy lovingkindness
and thy truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have
accomplished me about. Now what's this say? You say,
now that part doesn't belong to him. Yes, it does. Yes, it
does. As my surety, as my representative,
as my substitute, my sin became his. And this is him praying. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about. My iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I am not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of my head. Therefore my heart faileth me."
That's my Lord speaking. Then it said, I lo, I come, and
the volume of the book is written of me. That's my Lord speaking.
And that's Him speaking over here too. That's how real, now
listen to me, that is how real the transaction was. My sins
became His. He was made to be what I am,
and I might be made to be what He is, righteous, righteous. Oh, Lord, deliver my soul. Save
me, He says, for Thy mercy's sake. He knows. Oh, He knows. He knows. He knows
what it is to be alone. He knows what it is to be forsaken.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why are you so far
from the words of my roaring? Like an animal, like a wounded
animal. Watching on the outdoor channel
once, a guy shot a bear with a bow. And that bear ran off
into the woods. And you could hear the awfulest
Roaring. Coming from that bear until it
expired. But it was just roaring. I tell you, it sounds so pitiful.
Just over there a little ways off in the woods. And it was
just roaring. And then it died. Why are you so far from the words
of my roaring? That's our substitute. But I want you to notice what
he does here. He says, O save me for thy mercy's
sake. Our Lord, our surety appeals
to God's mercy. See, he starts out, rebuke me
not in your hot displeasure, in your anger. Chase me not in
your hot displeasure. Then he comes down to verse 4
here, and he knows He knows that our greatest need is mercy. What's your greatest need? I
have recognized this as I've gotten older, that more and more
in my prayers, I just say, Lord, have mercy on me. Have mercy
on my family. Have mercy on this congregation.
Lord, just have mercy. When I don't have words, I mean
when words just don't and won't come, this one always does. Have mercy on us. And he says
here, have mercy. If you'll just have mercy, it'll
all be alright. Let us learn from that. There is no remembrance of thee.
Our Lord now, our Lord, our surety knew the true nature of death. Only the living praise God. I'm not talking about just those
who walk on topside of this earth, those who are alive, who've been
made alive, who've been born of God, only they praise God. And he knew that there's no remembrance
of God in the grave. He knows that. Let me go back
here to verse 5. In death there's no remembrance
of thee. Nobody's thinking upon you. In the grave, who shall give
thee thanks? Only the living do that. Only
the living. Look over in Isaiah 38. Hezekiah knew this. Isaiah 38, verse 18. For the grave cannot praise thee,
Death cannot celebrate thee. Then they go down into the pit,
cannot hope for that truth. The living, the living, he shall
praise thee, as I do this day. The Father to the children shall
make known that truth. Oh, it's the living. What arguments. I tell you, we
can learn something about prayer and how to pray. reading these
Psalms. Not just looking at David praying,
but this is our Lord praying. He said, In death there is no
remembrance of you. Lord, let me live that I might
praise Thee. Every sinner whom God saves knows
that unless God saves him, He will never praise God with the
redeemed in glory if he doesn't save me. The dead do not praise
you. Those in hell do not praise you.
No. He says here in verse 6 and 7,
This is our Lord. I'm weary. I'm weary with my groaning. You
read in the Gospels several different times, you'll see he groaned
in spirit. He groaned in spirit. When he was at Lazarus' grave,
they were saying, you know, he could have saved him, and he
groaned in spirit. I'm weary with my groaning. All the night make I my bed to
swim. I water my couch with tears. Our Lord wept. He wept over Jerusalem. When he was at the grave of Lazarus,
it says Jesus wept. I'll tell you this. He wept a
lot more than is written. There's a lot of things not written.
It says if the books were written, they ought to have been written.
Why, the world couldn't contain them. Have you ever watered your calf
with tears? Have you ever watered your calf? Soaked it. He did. He did. This is not just words. He did. He wet the tears I ought to be
weeping. The tears that you and I ought to weep. He did. As our substitute, as our surety.
He did. Weary with my groaning. Our Lord
knows what it is to weep and groan over sin. Look in Psalm 69. He knows what these things are
all about. Psalm 69 verse 9, For the zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee are
fallen upon me. When I wept and chastened my
soul with fasting, that was to my reproach." Look at verse 20,
"...reproach hath broken mine heart, and I am full of heaviness. And I looked for some to take
pity, but there was none. I looked for comforters But I
found none. You know what he found? They
gave me also gall for my meat and in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink. Weary with my groaning. What a weary night that had to
have been in the Garden of Gethsemane. What a weary night. Scripture says in Isaiah 53-4,
He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. He didn't put them in a bucket
and carry them. He carried them right here. That's where He carried
them. He felt the full blow of them.
He felt the full blow of my grief and sorrow. that I've not felt, the grief and sorrow of perishing
under the wrath of God, I will not have to feel." He did. He did. My surety experienced
all my horror, all my darkness, my wretchedness, and God's anger
against it. He felt it. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. But notice here, I want you to
notice here. He says in verse 8, and this
speaks so much of our Lord because I want you to listen to the holy
confidence It's like he rises up. He has called upon God. He has
cast upon Him His soul for keeping. And it's as if he rises up and
he says, now, depart from me, all you workers of iniquity,
for the Lord Heard the voice of my weeping." Have you ever
prayed? Has there ever been a time in
your life that you have really prayed and you were able to get
up and know the Lord heard you? You know He heard you. Well,
our Lord did. When He prayed, He didn't say,
well, I hope it gets better. I hope He heard me. No, this is how I know this is
our Lord. After he prays this, he says,
depart from me. Like he said to Satan, get thee
behind me. All you workers of iniquity, for the Lord hath heard,
now listen, just listen. He's heard the voice of my weeping. First he says, depart from me,
all you workers of iniquity. Our Lord never kept company with
workers of iniquity. Sinners in need of mercy? Yes. This man receives sinners
and he eats with them. Workers of iniquity? No. Evil
communication that says corrupt good manners. He's not going
to go against his own word. And the Lord has heard the voice
of my weeping. You know weeping has a voice?
It speaks volumes. Probably the best prayers are
those who are just made up of tears. With no words that you can even
speak. Weeping has a voice and it is
a universal voice. It's even known in heaven. Let me go through some scripture
here. Turn to Psalm 56. Psalm 56. In Psalm 56, verse 8, Thou tellest
my wonderings, put down my tears, into thy bottle? Are they not
in thy?" Are they not, are not my tears in your book? You have children. I know I've
had, I have two sons. I don't have written down every
time they cried. I don't have written down every
tear they shed. God does. He said, every tear
is written in thy book. Isaiah 38. Verse 5, Go and say to Hezekiah,
Thus saith the Lord, The God of David, thy father, I have
heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will add
unto thy days fifteen years." I see your tears. I see them. Look in Luke 7. In Luke chapter 7, I want you
to look at this. Look at verse 37. Behold, a woman
in a city which was a center, when she knew that Jesus sat
at meet in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
and stood at his feet behind him, weeping, and began to wash
his feet with her tears. And did wipe them with the hairs
of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And our Lord points this out
to Simon, this Pharisee. He says, she washed my feet with
her tears. I may not be able, and I'm not
able to understand Spanish. If I was, or whenever the Lord
willing, I go to Mexico I won't be able to understand those Mexicans.
I can't understand a word that they're saying. Not a word. But I'll tell you
this. If one of them is weeping, I know something. I can hear
that one. I understand that language. If I see one of them broken and
weeping, I can identify with them. It has a voice. It has a voice. And it's the same in all languages.
It's the same in all languages. Our Lord said here, back in this
psalm, Depart from me, O ye works of iniquity, for the Lord Jehovah
hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication.
The Lord will receive my prayer. What confidence? We ought to
have that kind of confidence. We ought to have that kind of
confidence. If we are praying, calling upon
God in the name of Christ, and our heart is truly engaged in
prayer, we ought to have that kind of confidence. Our Lord
did. He said in one place, Father,
I know You always hear me. You always hear me. The Lord hath heard my supplication. Let all mine enemies be ashamed
and sore vexed. Let them return and be ashamed
suddenly. The Lord's heard me. He's heard
me. Let all my enemies, whatever
is vexing Let them be ashamed. Paul said this in one place,
we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. We are more than conquerors through
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not failures. We have access
to the throne of the grace of God. We have it. When sin presses hard upon the
soul, we have access through the Lord
Jesus Christ to the throne of grace. Let's make much use of
it. Let's make much use of it. Well,
I pray that God will give us such true conviction
of sin and true confidence in His love
to us in Christ that it will draw us, that it will continually draw
us to the throne of grace. We have every reason to come
and cast all our cares upon Him, whatever they be. But our Lord, I hope you saw,
I hope you were able to see this tonight. I hope I was able to
give it and didn't muddy it up too much. How identified He is with us. This is our Lord praying. This
is our surety. And He's heard. He's heard.

Save Me For Thy Mercies' Sake

What does the Bible say about repentance?

How do we know God's mercy is essential?

Why is confession of sin important for Christians?

How does Jesus identify with our struggles?

Sermon Transcript

About John Chapman

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Save Me For Thy Mercies' Sake

What does the Bible say about repentance?

How do we know God's mercy is essential?

Why is confession of sin important for Christians?

How does Jesus identify with our struggles?

Sermon Transcript

About John Chapman

Comments

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