I should have told you to hold
your place in Psalm 25 if you would turn back there with me.
While you're turning, I want to tell you a true event that
happened many years ago. There was once a mother who had
a son in the military and she approached Napoleon seeking pardon
for her son. The emperor replied that the
young man had committed a certain offense twice now and justice,
justice demanded death. The mother looked into the Emperor's
eyes and said, but I don't ask for justice. I don't ask for
justice. The mother explained, I plead
for mercy. Napoleon said, but your son doesn't
deserve mercy. And she said, sir, it would not
be mercy if he deserved it. And mercy is all I ask for. Would
you just have mercy? Well then, the emperor said,
I'll have mercy. And he spared the woman's son. Now I want you to notice verse
11 of Psalm 25. This will be my text. For thy
name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great." Oh,
what a simple and earnest prayer that is. You know what? It's
the kind of prayer that God always hears. The Lord God delights
to show mercy and give pardon to one who sincerely seeks it.
We see that time and time again in the Gospel narratives. Those
who came to the Lord Jesus, bowed at His feet, worshipped Him,
begged Him and said, Lord, have mercy on me. They always, always
received mercy. I want to show you some beautiful
things in these 13 words. In these divinely revealed things,
we see clearly why God delights to show mercy My first point
is that David, the psalmist here, King David, the young shepherd
boy, the one that slew Goliath, he declared that his iniquity
was great. Look at the verse again. Oh Lord,
pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. That word used in the
original proves the idea of quantity as well as quality. His sin was
not just great in its atrocity, but there was a great, great
volume of it. Any one sin is great because
of who it's against. But it was not merely one that
he spoke of, but 10,000 times 10,000. multitude. His sin was as great
in its quantity as it was black in its utter wickedness. Here's
a man who was considered to be the apple of God's eye, yet in
considering his own sin, he felt it to be great. Surely it's an
awful presumption by us to think that ours are but small. First,
we must understand that all sin is great when we consider who
it's against. In the military, And I've been
told this by those that have served, that if a man strikes
a comrade of equal rank, it's pretty much considered a misdemeanor. But if he strikes a petty officer,
it's considered a more serious offense. However, if he would
strike the commander-in-chief, he very likely could be sentenced
to death. Our sin and our offense is against
the ruler of the heavens and the earth. It's a serious offense. Serious offense. The only true
commander-in-chief our sin is against, and it's the same man
David said in Psalm 51.4, against thee and thee only. Have I sinned and done this evil
in thy sight? Friends, if I sin against you,
it's really against God. It's against God. And he says
that God may be justified when he speaks. Justified. There's nothing that God can
say about me in a bad way that's not true. I'm guilty. God's justified when He speaks
concerning me as a sinner. And He said, and be clear when
you judge. He's clear when he judges me
as what I am, a sinner, an awful wicked man. An old farmer one
time went to see an attorney concerning an offense committed
against him. And he asked the lawyer, he said,
what would the penalty be for a man whose horse is always going
into his neighbor's field and eating his corn? He told the
lawyer, I've told this man and warned the man several times
and I told him that it was the result of his fence being broken
down and that he should have already mended it. But he hadn't
and his horse still keeps coming and still keeps eating all my
corn. And the lawyer said, of course, no doubt there would
be a considerable fine. We could press charges. I'd gladly
represent you in this matter," he said. Well, sir, the old farmer
said, it's your horse that's done this. It's your horse that's
done this. Oh, the lawyer said, well, that's
quite a different question. He said, I did not know it was
my horse before I gave my opinion, and so it is with us. So it is
with us in regards to anything wrong that we've done. If it
hurts you, if it hurts me, we feel very indignant about it.
But if it offends God Almighty, the Majesty of Heaven, we make
light of it. We do. We just do. By nature,
we do. What fools we are. If it offends
such puny, insignificant creatures as we are, we think that it's
a terrible injustice. Well, that's quite a different
story, as the lawyer told the farmer. How dare you say that
about me or do that to me? But if God and His divine majesty
be insulted, We pass it by as though it were nothing of any
consequence. Let me see if I can illustrate
this further. There's a man and he's out in an alley and he's
beating a man. And the man is defenseless and
he just keeps beating him. And he beats him until he does
him great harm. And we, by nature, say, that's
not right. That's awful. He shouldn't be
doing that. Then you're told that the one
that he was beating was his own father. And then we agree that
it's far, far worse. a situation to injure a man needlessly
whom he should have honored and loved. God is our Creator. He's our Heavenly Father to those
of you that know Him. Any attack that is made upon
His government, any willful violation against His law is aggravated
by the fact of who He is and that we owe Him nothing but love
and allegiance. And yet our sin is against Him
and Him only. Gary read this morning before
Sunday School, Psalm 100. It is He that hath made us. You hear that? He that has made
us, not we ourselves. We are His people. His people
and the sheep of His pasture. Have you ever considered this? You have offended Him who made
you. Oh, you think about that and
dwell on that for a moment. The One in whose hand your next
breath comes from, you've offended. When you've used profane words,
it's been against the High and Holy One. Against the very One
whom the holy angels humbly bow themselves unto. That's who you've
sinned against. While we're unworthy to even
lick the dust off of His feet, and yet it is against Him and
Him only that we've sinned against and offended. David said in verse
11, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. It is great. I'm telling you, friends, it
makes our sin which is against Him and Him alone all the blacker,
the darker, the more horrific because of who our sin is against. It's against God. However, that's
not all. But may we also be reminded that
our sin is certainly very great because of the amount of it.
Not only the darkness, but the amount. How many times have we
transgressed? I can remember, and I've told
you this before as a small boy, when I would say a bad word or
do something that I knew would be very unpleasing to my parents,
I would say, oh God, forgive me, I'll never do that again.
And probably most of the time within a few minutes, I did the
same thing again and again and again. How many times have we
transgressed? It ain't as though we did it
wrong once and washed our hands and said, I'm not going to do
that ever again. I can't honestly count my errors.
What sinful man or woman can tell the multitudes of his or
her transgressions? Every day there seems to be more
sin and sins by me than heartbeats within me. That's just a fact. I hate it. I wish it wasn't so. I beg that God deliver me from
this body of death. But it's always present and ever
before me. God knows the total of the sins
of man. We drink iniquity like a thirsty
man drinks water. Have you ever been really, really
thirsty on a hot day? You're out working in the yard
and you come in and boy, you drink that water down almost
to the point of hurting you. It's like you've got to stop,
take a breath, and go at it again. That's the way we are when it
comes to iniquity. We drink it like a thirsty man
drinks water. And as I've said many times,
and you've heard many times from others, sin's not what we do,
sin's what we are. We sin because of what we are.
We're sinners. And we're sinners in the hands
of an angry God. I'd better beg for pardon. Pardon
my iniquity, it's great. The only difference between me
and the most wicked criminal and the most dangerous prison
in the world is truly the grace of God. In this category or group
of great iniquity, nobody's got anything on me. O Lord, pardon
my iniquity, for it is great." Now my second point is this,
a plea for grace in the midst of great sin. Oh, this is a very
strange but a comforting text. Look at it again. We need to
read it over and over and over again. Does it really say, pardon
my iniquity, for it is great? Is the foundation of this plea
for grace really the greatness of our sin? That seems to be
the case, doesn't it? Imagine a prisoner at a courthouse
pleading with the judge that he would kindly let him off because
he was such a great offender. Most men would plead that they're
not guilty, even though they are. But here stands a man pleading
for pardon because he's a great, great criminal. And that's something. But we see a legitimate reason
for the judge here not to pardon the criminal, but to say, Your
Honor, please pardon me because I'm the worst of the worst. I
just don't see that happening. But here the reason for pardon
lies in one reason and one reason alone. Do you see it? The part
of this request that makes it reasonable instead of ridiculous.
Look at those first four words, for Thy name's sake. That's what
makes the difference. Oh Lord, pardon my iniquity for
it is great, for Thy name's sake. That's grace. That's mercy. And
that changes the request. That makes it a reasonable argument.
I know it seems reasonable that if all men have sinned and none
of them have any merit, then we would naturally expect and
say among ourselves that the man with the least sin should
be forgiven first. If this was the choice of man,
that would definitely be the case. And that's the way we'd
handle it. Well, let he who sinned least
be forgiven first. But it's not the choice of man.
Don't miss this beauty, friends. In the covenant of Christ, the
way of salvation is based upon reverse principles. Salvation
is not according to man's merit, but according to God's glory. Did you hear what I said? The
aim, the end, the object of God and salvation is to glorify His
own character. To glorify His own great name. Therefore, a natural man can't
understand God's way. And that's what Paul says in
1 Corinthians, that a natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But
I'm going to tell you something, a redeemed child of God will
beg God to pardon his iniquity, and he'll say right up front,
I'm the worst of the worst, but do it for thy name's sake. Do
it for your own glory. God's mercy and grace select
those who most magnify His grace and most glorify His name and
His Son. So we must conclude that if God
would do that great work of pardoning sin in such a way as to glorify
His own name, the most fitting persons to be saved are the biggest
sinners, the most wicked, the most wretched. in those God gets
glory. Oh, isn't that good news? Well,
it is to you if you're a wicked, wretched sinner. Now, if you're
alright, if you're well in your own eyes, then it won't mean
much to you. But if you're a desperate, wicked,
undeserving wretch of a man or a woman, then you find good news
in this. Let's consider it another way.
We have a whole number of sick people. And here's a physician,
he's a great physician. And he intends to gain to himself
a name of great reputation, because he's a great physician. He's
full of love and kindness, but also remember, one part of his
objection is to make a name for himself. With that in mind, we
must conclude that in the selection of his patients, he's not going
to pick out a man with a sore finger. His reputation won't
profit much from healing a man who has a sore finger, or taking
a splinter out of a man's finger, or a couple stitches in the end
where he's cut it. He can, and I'm not saying that
he won't, but that's not his intention. But perhaps there
are a few cases among the sick that are of an extraordinary
kind. Some of them have an affliction,
a disease, quite unknown to the rest of the doctors. They just
look and shrug their shoulders and say, every medicine we can
think of has been tried, every procedure we can think of has
been done, and the best of us given up that his case is hopeless. Now that great physician says,
these are the cases that I'll select. Granting that he's able
to cure whomsoever he wills, you can see if his object is
to be his own glory and ability, he would rather take those that
are in the most perplexing and serious condition. He'll choose
those instead of those that have the least sickness and might
be the most readily cured. Now let me give you another example.
There's a multi-billion dollar man, wealthy beyond wealth, and
there are a number of debtors assembled. He's advertised all
those that are in debt come meet with me. I want to show my generosity. And they're all assembled and
he's determined to pay their liabilities. There's a man there
that owes $1,000 and there's another that owes $10,000. Well now, if he pays their debts,
the debtors will most definitely be grateful, won't they? I can
assure you, if one of you come up today and say, I want to pay
your debt off, I'm going to be happy about it. But the giver
will not ever have much credit based on his generosity if he
just pays off some debts that are nothing to him. But then
another man is brought in and this man is head over and ears
in debt. I mean, what's the sum he owes? $50,000? Let's say it's $100,000.
No, let's just say that he owes a half a million dollars. Well,
now here's the opportunity for that generous man to display
his generosity. Do you see what I'm saying? Because
here we find that there's room and great opportunity for generosity. Great is our sin, dear friends. Pardon mine iniquity, O Lord. Why should I? O God, for your
name's sake. for your name's sake." So it
is in grace. Oh, that proud Pharisee, he comes
to God and he says, Lord, I thank Thee that I'm not like other
men. And God replies, then there's no room for you in my work of
grace. But in the back there stands
a poor publican. He doesn't even lift his eyes
up into heaven. He smites upon his breast and
he cries, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now there is a
case for me, says God. There's a case for me. The God
of sovereign mercy pardons that poor sinful publican. God gets
all the glory and salvation. That's what I'm trying to say.
All the glory and the salvation of rotten, good-for-nothing sinners. And when God speaks of sinners,
He doesn't merely mean those that have been great sinners.
And He doesn't merely mean those who have been, in comparison
to others, small sinners. That's how we grade sin, isn't
it? I've heard men say time and time
again, well, I ain't perfect, but I ain't as bad as so-and-so. Being a little sinner in your
eyes doesn't mean anything, even being a great sinner. God means
those who feel themselves to be great sinners. And a man or
a woman will only find that if God Himself shows it to them.
Then one day God showed me my sin and He showed me who was
against. And I quit being concerned about
other sins at that point and became sincerely concerned with
my own. God calls me to feel the guilt
of my sin. And you see, the more guilt that
the sinner feels, the more fit he or she is for mercy. The more
broken down sinners are with hopelessness on account of their
own lost estate, the more glory there is for the triumph of Christ's
grace. Are you following me? It is often
revealed that the men of the worst character are often the
most self-righteous. Those of you who feel that you
are the very chief of sinners, you who groan and moan on account
of your sin, don't you be silenced at the mercy seat because of
the greatness of your guilt. Turn your desperation to the
One who can help. One who can save. Oh, go to Him
with your case and say, pardon, mine iniquity is great. You remember
that woman, don't you? Her daughter was grievously vexed
with a spirit. And she besought the Lord that
He might save her and heal her. And you remember what He said
to her? He said, let the children's thirst be filled, for it's not
fit for me to take the children's bread and to give it to a dog.
And I guarantee you, right then, the majority of people would
have left. I ain't no dog. She took sides with God against
herself. She professed to be what He said
she was. She said, yay Lord, I'm a dead
dog sinner. I'm the worst of the dogs. I am a dog for sure, she said. Yet, the dogs under the table
eat of children's crumbs. She was persistent. She said,
pardon my iniquity, oh Lord, for it's great, but do it for
thy name's sake. I don't deserve it." And he said
to her, for this saying, you go thy way, the devil is gone
out of thy daughter. Now listen, and I'll be done,
I'm finished. If you truly desire to be saved,
get upon your knees before God. If you desire to be saved, you
say to the judge of the universe, pardon me. My transgression is
great, and my hell is going to be great. But, if you save me,
if you have mercy on me, your honor will be great. If you will
redeem me, the power of your blood will be great. If you give
me a new heart, the transforming power of your spirit will be
great. Oh God, save me. God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. And I can assure you from God's
Word, one thing, for His name's sake, one more time, for His
name's sake, He'll pardon. I titled this message, Great
Sin Requires Great Pardon. Amen. Amen.