in Psalm 51. Before I read my
text, I want to read you a promise
that the Holy God, the Holy Lord God made on Mount Sinai when
Moses was interceding for the children of Israel after they
had committed the rebellious act of worshipping their man-made
idol, that golden calf. You remember that? Moses went
up into the mount and asked God to be merciful
to them. And here is God's answer in Exodus chapter 33 verse 19. You're familiar with this. Paul
quotes this in Romans chapter 9, but God said I will make all
my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now
that promise is also a firm degree. That promise is the unchanging
purpose of God Almighty, as much so as when he created the heavens
and the earth. He purposed it, He willed it,
and it was. This wondrous act of creation
is obvious proof of God's purpose to create. Otherwise, there'd
be no creation. The very fact that it exists
shows that God willed to do so. Apply that same thing to this
promise of His purpose to show mercy. God has purposed to have
mercy. to actually bestow His mercy,
not merely to speak about His mercy, and certainly not to tantalize
poor, needy, seeking sinners with His mercy. God never does
that. God never does that. There is
not one example Old Testament or new, of any sinner who sincerely,
sincerely cried for mercy who didn't receive it. God delights
to show mercy. His promise, His purpose is that
He will actually bestow mercy. Somebody, somebody, a multitude
of somebodies, and they're all really nobodies, are going to
experience the mercy of God. Now just think about that for
a moment. God has purposed, he's determined,
as he told Moses, I'm going to have mercy. I'm going to be gracious. Somebody, those to whom he purposed
to bestow his mercy, they're going to actually experience,
not sit and talk about it, not spew out theories about God's
mercy. But there are a multitude of
sinners that are actually going to experience God's mercy. Now that's something, that's
something. And even as I say that, I realize that we're living
in a generation that have been willingly brainwashed to think
that God is obligated to show them mercy. that God is obligated
to be gracious to them, that everybody actually deserves mercy. And if God doesn't show them
mercy, as they say, give everybody a chance, then God's unjust. So when they hear that God will
show mercy, that God is purposed to be gracious, to them, that's
no big deal. That's no big deal. What's so marvelous about that?
But to every needy, bankrupt sinner, everyone who is made
by God's grace to fear, as old Newton wrote in his famous hymn,
everyone of those sinners who knows he is in debt to God Almighty
and he's got nothing to pay. He's got nothing to pay. Now
if he thinks he can satisfy God with decisions and baptisms and
learning five points, he's not a bankrupt sinner. He's just
not a bankrupt sinner. He's not a poor needy sinner
because he thinks he can come to God with the work of his own
hands. But that rare individual whom
God is made to know, They owe a debt to God, God demands satisfaction,
and they've got nothing to repay that debt with. When they hear
something like this, when such a person as that hears God Almighty
say, This is God who has his way in
the whirlwind, who always accomplishes his will, who always does whatever
he purposed to do, whatever he promised he's able to perform.
And he says, I will have mercy. Oh, man. That's good news, ain't
it? That's good news. And when he hears this is God's
mercy, just as God himself said there in Exodus 33, and it's
his prerogative It's His mercy. And He told Moses, I'll bestow
it on who I will. It's mine. Mercy is not an obligation. Mercy is pure unmerited. There's
nothing I can do to earn it. I don't deserve it. I deserve
God's wrath. I've earned that. But His mercy? There's nothing I can do to merit
that. There's nothing in me that would attract God's mercy. There's
everything that would repel it. So when he hears that God will
have mercy on whom he will have mercy, he doesn't have a problem
with that. That's exactly right. A bankrupt
sinner, he won't argue with that. No, he'll think to himself, since
God has mercy on whom he will, do those who have no claims zip? no merit, no reason but this,
since mercy is given only to those who absolutely don't deserve
it, he thinks, then why not me? Why not me? Jesus of Nazareth,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. I've heard that you've
had mercy on other blind beggars. I've heard you open other blind
eyes. Don't pass me by, we just sang it then. And one of the
most astounding verses in the scripture, at least to my heart,
is that when our Lord heard the cry of that blind beggar and
the multitude told him, shut up, shh, be quiet, be quiet,
Bartimaeus just kept on shouting it. Easy enough for you to say,
be quiet. I need mercy. I need mercy. And that's the only one from
whom I can receive God's mercy. Jesus have mercy on me. Don't
pass me by. An astounding verse of scripture
we read, and Jesus stood still. Wow. Wow, he stood still. He always hears the sincere cry
for mercy. And when such a needy sinner
is that, reads a verse like this. It's confronted with the truth
like this. So then, this was Paul's take on what we read in
Exodus 33 in Romans chapter 9. So then, it is not of him that
willeth. Whoa, whoa. Well, my soul, 99
out of 100 preachers today and most people believe it is of
him that willeth. You know, if you're willing,
it's all up to you. God's done all he can. No, it's
not of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth
about doing religious exercises. But it's of God that showeth
mercy. When a bankrupt, needy sinner,
a real sinner, hears that, he'll not accuse God of being unjust
or unfair. but he'll instead bow down with
the heart full of adoration that God had mercy on him. Of all
people, God had mercy on me. My soul, have you got over that? If you have, you need to pray
that God will refresh you. with a sense of that. That's
exactly how Paul reacted after considering the pure, unmerited
mercy of God bestowed upon him. Paul had experienced religion,
he had experienced tradition, he had experienced being a zealous
Pharisee, he had experienced being a hater of Jesus of Nazareth,
but God Almighty said, I'm going to bestow my mercy on that self-righteous
soul of course. And Paul never got over it. until
the day he died, he never got over it, did he? And this is
what he says in Romans 11, speaking of God's unmerited mercy. Romans
11, verse 32. For God hath concluded them all
in unbelief, Jew, Gentile, that he might have mercy. The only
grounds on which God bestows his mercy is on the grounds of
nobody deserves it. That's what Paul is saying. That
he might have mercy upon all. Oh, and Paul says, think about
that. Paul, I believe, thought about
it. And he came out of his meditation with a psalm on his lips and
praise in his heart. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments and his ways past finding out. Who had known the
mind of the Lord? Who had been his counselor? Who
had first given to him? And it shall be recompensed unto
him again, for of him and through him and to him are all things
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now look again at
Psalm 51. Verse 1 is our text. This is
the root that everything springs from. The reason for what follows,
it begins here. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy loving kindness. according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions." The sin was
all David's doing, but the mercy is all God's doing. David pleads
no merit of his own. He throws himself upon the mercy
of God Almighty. Have mercy upon me, O God. That
will suffice for our message, just those few words. Have mercy
upon me, O God. David needed mercy, didn't he?
David needed mercy. And most folks, again, today,
they would say, well, everybody knows that. Well, everybody knows
that, really. Just ask them if they need mercy.
Ask most people. I'd just about be willing to
bet you could go out, go down to a Piggly Wiggly or somewhere
and ask Anyway, do you need mercy? And they'll start giving you
all the reasons they don't need mercy. I'm a good fellow. I'm a good husband. I'm a good
wife. I'm a good provider. I'm this, I'm that. Most folks
are like those Pharisees that our Lord spoke to in Matthew
chapter 9. Remember he was with his disciples and he came to
where Matthew, Levi, the publican, the tax collector, he was at
his desk collecting taxes. Man, he was a despised man. And
Jesus Christ, in sovereign majesty, said, Matthew, Levi, follow me. He dropped everything. Follow
me, Levi, and I'll show you the true treasure. Don't labor for
that gold that perisheth. Follow me, and you'll have riches
in heaven. We read there in Matthew 9, verse
10. And it came to pass as Jesus
sat at meat in the house, Matthew had a party. He wanted to honor
the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, many publicans and sinners
came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees
saw it, uh-oh, they were always watching, weren't they? Oh, they
watched. The Pharisees saw it. They said to his disciples, why
eateth your master with publicans and sinners? That's just disgraceful.
We would never do such a thing. You'd never catch us sitting
down with a sinner. When Jesus heard it, he said
unto them, They that behold need not a physician, but they that
are sick. Most people can quote that verse,
very few really understand what it means. Verse 13, But go ye
and learn what that means. That's what our Lord said to
the Pharisee. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have
not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. That
verse our Lord referred to, I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
is from Hosea chapter 6, verse 6. God says, for I desired mercy
and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than all your burnt
offerings. Also from Micah chapter 6 as
well, verse 6. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord? What can I bring that will be pleasing to God? What
can I do, what can I offer God that will make him accept me?
Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before
the high God? Shall I come before him with
burnt offerings, with casts of a year old? Would the Lord be
pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers
of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed thee, O man, what
is good. And what does the Lord require
of thee? but to do justly, and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly before thy God." David certainly wasn't
in the mold of the Pharisees, was he? He needed God's mercy,
and he knew it. He knew it. At the very heading
of this psalm, it tells us why David prayed as he did. Look
at it in your Bible, at Psalm 51 again. Look at the heading.
to the chief musician, Osama David, when Nathan the prophet
came unto him after he had gone in to Beersheba. My soul, that just is like a
siren introducing the very reason David needed God's mercy after
that horrible sin with Beersheba. We don't read in this title heading
the psalm that this is a psalm of David when he was a young
shepherd boy. He wrote something, didn't he?
Watching over his father's sheep while lifting his heart in praise
to God, the great shepherd of the sheep. We don't read in that
title that this is a psalm of David when still as a young shepherd
boy, he was anointed that day. Oh, what a psalm that would elicit
from the heart of a thankful sinner like David. That day when
the prophet came to his house, he wasn't even present. Nobody
thought he could be the one. He could be Israel's future king,
and all his older brothers passed before the prophet. And Samuel
thought, well, surely this is he. This is God's anointing.
Just look at him. God said, that's not him. They
all passed by. And God said, none of them. And
Samuel said, Jesse, is this it? You got any more children? He
said, yeah, there's the youngest out there tending sheep. Go get
him. Fetch him. Fetch him. And David
came in. And God said, Samuel, arise and
anoint. This is he. You don't think David
sang psalms of praise to that? And we don't read that this is
a psalm of David when he went out that day to face that giant
Goliath, his brothers. were fighting under King Saul. David was still at home tending
sheep. And while he was bringing them some lunch, Goliath comes
out. You know the story. Goliath ridicules
all the armies of Israel. Is there not a man, you chickens,
is there not a man among you that will come out and fight?
Let's decide this thing right now. Beat me, and we'll all surrender. If I beat you, y'all surrender."
And he defied the armies of the living God. And David heard it. And he said, why are y'all allowing
this? Why are y'all allowing this uncircumcised heathen, this
Philistine, to defy the armies of... Why are y'all allowing
him to insult God Almighty? What's the matter with y'all?
They said, why don't you go back home? Just go back home. We don't need you here. And David
says, where's Saul? I want to talk to Saul. So he
went and Saul was hiding like the rest of them. He said, listen,
let me tell you what I'll do. The same as I did protecting
my father's sheep, I killed the lion, I killed the bear, and
I'll kill him if you'll let me do it. And Saul said, well, have
at it. Take your liberty. And they fitted
him with Saul's armor, the armor of a soldier. And David said,
I just can't function in this. Take it off. I'll take my sling,
I'll pick up a few rocks in the brook as I'm going out to meet
them." And you know the story. Goliath fell down. Oh, what that
occasion would have again elicited from the heart of young David
in honor of his God. But that's not the title of this
psalmist. None of those things were the
occasion of David writing this psalmist. Again, like that 23rd
psalm. How different this one sounds,
doesn't it? In that psalm, David said, oh,
the Lord is my shepherd. I just can see him leaning back
in a field, in a pasture, against a tree. He's watching his father's
sheep, perhaps playing his flute, and he thinks to himself, oh,
the Lord is my shepherd. I'm the shepherd of these sheep,
but oh, I've got a great shepherd, the good shepherd, the cheap
shepherd. Compare that where David said,
he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leaves me just beside
still waters. That's so nice when that happens,
it doesn't. When everything's well and you
just lie down and God enables you just to trust him and you
get up thanking God, you go to bed thanking God. Oh, still waters,
that's so sweet. Then there are times that David
wrote, the billows have rolled over my soul. Just wave after
wave after wave. In this song, there are no sweet
notes about green pastures. No sweet notes about still waters. David says, oh God, I've sinned
against you. That's how it starts. I acknowledge
my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. I'll
sin against you and you only. God, have mercy. Have mercy on
me." What we learn from that is that the best of men are just
men at best, aren't they? Could the same man who wrote
the 23rd Psalm have written this psalm? Is it the same fellow?
Is this a different David? Of course not. It's the very
same one. David wrote this. After Nathan
the prophet came unto him, that's in 2 Samuel chapter 12. You know
the story, we'll not read it. Just very briefly, Nathan recited
the story about a rich man stole the sheep, the lone sheep,
lamb of his poor neighbor. And David rose up indignant,
he said, who is he? Bring him before me. Anybody
that merciless, anybody that greedy, I'm going to put them
to death." And Nathan said, it's you, David. You're the man. You're
the man. Oh, my soul. Like Peter, David
suddenly heard the cock crowing. And it all came flooding back
into his soul. And he said, oh, I've sinned
against God. He thought he had covered it up. Oh, what a horrible
sin. After all that God had done for that man. Why he wasn't leading
his army in battle, I don't know. Instead, he was lollygagging
around the castle. He saw the wife of his faithful
servant, Uriah, who was out in the battle for David, and he
took her. She became with child. So you
know the story. He plotted to have Uriah murdered
and took the Sheba for his wife. And Nathan said, David, you just
think nobody knows. God knows. God knows. God knows exactly what you've
done, and David in this psalm begs God for mercy. Not according
to my merits, not according to what I deserve, he throws himself
down at the throne of grace and says, God, have mercy upon me. According to what? Thy loving
kindness. That's why we read in that same
passage of 2 Samuel, when Nathan said, thou art a man, and David
confessed, From a heart of bitter anguish, I've sinned against
God. Nathan said to David, the Lord
also hath put away thy sin. You're not going to die. Last week, I think it was, I
sent a poem by a lady named Annie Johnson Flint. I sent it to Bobby. to Sandy Giddens, I think I sent
it to Robin. I've been reading them each morning.
She wrote some good ones. This is the second verse of one
called, New Every Morning. If faithfulness fails not, it
meets us each day with guidance for every new step of the way.
New grace for the trials, new trust for old fears, new patience
for hearing the wrongs of the years, new strength for new burdens,
new courage for old, new faith for whatever the day may unfold.
As fresh for each need as the dew on the sod, O new every morning
are the mercies of God. Have mercy on me, O God. How thankful every fallen sinner
is to hear these words. I am the Lord. Have mercy upon
me, O God. Oh, you've blessed me and blessed
me. You've shaken your blessing down
like a bushel. and packed more into my heart,
and I've sinned against you after all that. Have mercy upon me,
O God. Oh, to hear these words, I am the Lord. I am the Lord,
I change not. You've been unthankful. You've
been ungrateful. You've been unfaithful. But I
won't be. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore, therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Sons of Jacob. Sons of Jacob. It's not very flattering, is
it? But it's true. You know the word Jacob? That
name means sub-planter, plotter, conniver. David was a son of
Jacob. He connived, he plotted in the
murder of his faithful subject. He committed adultery with that
man's wife and then murdered that man so he could have her. He hid it from everybody, as
we said, but God. Because with God, all things
are naked and open with whom we have to do. We can't fool
him. We can't fool him, can we, Bobby?
Bobby's shaking her head. That's exactly it. We just can't.
God looks at the heart. That's what he told Samuel, didn't
he, concerning David being anointed? You're looking at the outward
appearance, Samuel. I'm looking at the heart. Remember, you sons
of Jacob, you are nonetheless the sons of God. It doth not
yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall
appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."
When David was conniving and plotting to cover up his horrible
sin, his substitute, his good shepherd that would lay down
his life for his sheep, was standing before God interceding at that
very moment for David. Isn't that something? While David
was plotting and being unfaithful to his God, Jesus Christ was
interceding for David's soul before the throne of God Almighty
and said, don't lay that sin to his charge. If you do, he's
going to hell. Put that sin on my charge. I'll
repay you, God. Put it to my charge. I'll pay
his debt. I'll pay the price, I'll suffer
the full penalty of your justice, so David never will. My soul,
God's righteousness has not been set aside when he forgives a
sinner, is it? His righteousness has been fully
satisfied. And on the grounds of that satisfied
justice, Christ having made peace with God on our behalf, because
he was made sin for us, comes mercy, mercy great. on the wings
of that satisfied justice. Psalm 85 and 10, mercy and truth
are met together. That's what happened at Calvary.
Righteousness and peace have kissed one another. Paul said,
therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in the sight of God, for by the deeds of the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law hath appeared, the righteousness which is of
God by faith, being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that's in Christ Jesus. People think when God shows mercy
that he does so because he lowered his standard, his demand for
perfection. No, he didn't. They think Adam
couldn't step high enough, so God lowered the rail. No, he
didn't. Jesus Christ satisfied that high
and holy standard of God. Since Robin and I have been living
back there in the dining area, each morning I go to the refrigerator
to get me some water. And I look at that window, Terry. You know, they're not that wide,
but I pull the curtain back and I look. Because that pond down
there, you know, in the early morning I look and say, because
I'm looking for a deer. I know there's deer out there
someplace. And I've looked in the wee hours.
and in the evening, and I'm not seeing one yet. The other morning
I saw Robyn. Robyn was trying to peep out.
And she looked back at me and said, it must be nice to be tall.
She just can't hardly see out the window. I said, and she,
but she, the next morning she was trying it again. I said,
Robyn, I said, I don't think you've gotten any taller. And
that window hasn't gotten any lower. Why do you keep looking?
When God forgives a sinner, it's not because somehow that sinner
has raised himself up to meet God's standard, and it's not
because God has lowered the standard of his holy law, but mercy comes
on the wings of satisfied justice saying, peace, peace, thy sins
which are many are all forgiven thee. That's what God, or rather
Jesus Christ, did on Calvary. He enabled God now to be just. when he justifies a sin. Indeed,
God would be unjust. He would absolutely be unjust
if anybody whose sins Jesus Christ bore away, God would turn around
and punish him for those sins. God never does that. Now that
would be unjust. That would be unfair. Payment
God cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding surety's hand,
and then again at mine. God will never ever do that. When you lay down tonight, May
God be pleased to bring that to your memory. God made him
to be sin for me, then I'm free. I'm free. My sins have been put
away. That's what David prayed, didn't he? God's justice is satisfied,
and here it comes. I will have mercy, God said. Sinners are going to experience
my mercy, and they owe that to the Lord Jesus Christ. He came
and preached peace to you, Ephesians 2 and 17, verse 16. That he might reconcile both
unto God, Jew and Gentile, in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you
which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. And oh, the blessed
peace, oh, the peace a sinner has when he knows that is sins
that are so many are all forgiven." There's nothing like that. There's
just nothing like that this side of heaven. When Jesus Christ,
just like he reached out and touched that poor, cankerous,
outcast leper and said, I will be thou clean. Oh, I imagine
some peace flooded his soul, don't you? When they said, Bartimaeus,
Jesus Christ is standing still, we're gonna take you to him.
Can you imagine the peace that must have flooded his soul? The
Prince of Peace pronouncing his peace in the heart of a forgiven
sinner. And as I said in the reading,
that's where peace is needed, in the heart. I need peace in
the heart. These outward things won't give
it. I want peace with God. When I lay down tonight, Billy,
not knowing if I'll wake in the morning, when we get in that
car this afternoon to drive to Kentucky, we may not get there.
I want to know I have peace with God. And if he ushers me into
his very presence before I finish preaching this message, it is
well with my soul, because Jesus loved me and gave himself for
me. Oh, the peace that passeth all
understanding, like that dear woman in Luke 7, one of my favorite
passages. Our Lord goes to Simon the Pharisee's
house. And while he's there, a guest
at the table, here comes this woman. You know the story. And
Simon's offended. He thinks to himself, who let
her in my house? She's got no right. This is embarrassing. Everybody knows what she is.
And our Lord spoke the parable. And he said, Simon, when those
two debtors had nothing to pay, Simon wasn't like that. He had
plenty to pay. He wasn't sick. He didn't need
the great physician. But this woman, she had nothing
to pay. The Lord said, he frankly, he
freely forgave them both. And he turned to the woman, and
he said, lady, thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee. Go in peace. Just go in peace. You know what he said? Enter
into peace. The peace of God. and peace with God. What's that
worth? What's that worth? Money can't
buy it. My good work can't buy it. But Jesus Christ did. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Y'all might find this hard to
believe, but on occasion, my wife gets a little ticked off
at me. And I deserve it. Terry, I just deserve it. But
it's fun when we make a kiss. Reconcile. Reconcile. God's been reconciled to his
people. The sweet kiss of peace because
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He having abolished in his body
the enmity that was against us, and having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them. David, you shall not die. You shall not die. God's mercy
was with David in Psalm 23. It ends like this, doesn't it? Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. David wrote that. And I
will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And it surely did,
didn't it? God's mercy never left David.
He wrote that as a shepherd boy before he was ever king. But
God's mercy never left David. It didn't stop when David had
sinned against his God. God's mercy was still following
David. When David was sneaking Bathsheba into his house and
into his bed, God's mercy was still following David. When David
was plotting the murder of Uriah, how shameful, how treacherous
to that faithful friend and loyal subject. You know what? God's
mercy was still following David. And here in this sad, sad, sad
confession from a broken-hearted David, it begins, it must begin,
where all true confessions begin, O God, have mercy upon me, I've
sinned against you. God's mercy here, as it always
had done before David's great sin, and would do after that,
God's mercy was still following David. And every child of God can say
the same thing. I've been ungrateful, unthankful.
As David said in another song, I've been as a beast before you,
but God's mercy will still follow this sinner. Nevertheless, I
am continually with thee, David said. Therefore, by God's grace, everyone
that is in Christ Jesus is a new creature. Old things are passed
away. Behold, all things are become
new, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5 and 17. That's what God mercy
makes us. That's what God's grace does.
Every time, without exceptions. I remember Henry Mahan one time
said something like this. He said, today's slick, streamlined
conversions can make you have it. You can get it without knowing
it. And you can lose it and never
miss it. Not God's true grace. Not God's true salvation. David
wasn't in that class. He knew by the work of God in
him that he needed God's goodness and God's mercy, or he was a
goner. And God's mercy followed him
all the days of his life. I think David would have really
liked the hymn that we're going to close with at Calvary. Don't
you? I think he would join in and
just try to out-sing us all. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty God that God did
span at Calvary. Let me leave you with this. In
verse 1, David prayed, have mercy upon me, and God did that. Verse
2, we won't read it, but God did that. Verse 3, God did that
too. Verse four, against thee, thee
only have I sinned, O God, and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be just when thou speak'st, and be clear when
thou, behold, thou wast shapen in iniquity. Behold, thou desirest
truth. Purge me, verse seven, God did
that. Read each verse, eight, nine,
10, 11, 12, God did that. God did that. Because God's mercy
is new every morning. Let me read you the psalm. that
David wrote after this experience. Why it goes before Psalm 51,
I don't know. But after the experience of Psalm
51, David wrote this. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and whose spirit there is no
guide. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring
all the day long. This is Psalm 32, verse four. For day and night, thy hand was
heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer, Selah. I acknowledge my sin unto thee,
and my iniquity have I not hid. I said I would confess my transgressions
unto the Lord, and thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin, Selah. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. As we sing this last hymn, mercy
there was great, and grace was free. Let's make it a song. Let's
join with David in every redeemed sinner in giving thanks to God
for his everlasting mercy and grace. God bless you.