Would you turn back to Psalm
40? Lord willing, this evening, I'm
going to speak on the subject of biblical self-image. It's
from Luke chapter 17. What is a biblical self-image? Everybody's got a self-image,
but what is a biblical self-image? This morning, I want to speak
on this subject. What a real sinner needs. What a real sinner needs. Now, Psalm 40 is quoted by the
writer to the Hebrews as the very words of Christ. Look in
verse 6 of Psalm 40. Sacrifice and offering, thou
didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said
I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written of me. I delight to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Now is there any doubt who's
speaking? These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. quoted
in Hebrews chapter 10, verses six through eight. So this is
Christ speaking. And look how he describes his
preaching. Verse nine, he says, I have preached,
this is the Lord Jesus Christ, I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Though I've not refrained my
lips, O Lord, thou knowest, I have not hid thy righteousness within
my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Now, every
preacher would do well to follow this model. This is how Christ
himself preached. He said, first of all, he tells
us what he didn't do. He said, I've not refrained,
I've not hid, and I've not concealed. Now that is so very important.
Quite often a false prophet is seen not by what he says, but
what he doesn't say. And here the Lord says, I've
not, refrained, I've not hid, I've not concealed." And what
was his message? He said in verse 9, I've preached
righteousness. Whose? Look in verse 10. I've
not hid thy righteousness within my heart. There's only one righteousness. His. I've declared thy faithfulness. I've declared thy salvation.
I've not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth. from
the great congregation. Now, let's read the verses I
read at the beginning of the service. And remember, these
are the words of the Lord Jesus. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're more than
the hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart fails me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me."
Now, somebody's thinking, how could these be the words of Christ?
He never sinned. He never sinned. He knew no sin. He did no sin. And in Him was
no sin. So how in the world could these
be the words of Christ? Because they are the words of
Christ. Look in verse 1. I waited patiently
for the Lord. Who's the only one who ever did
that? There's only one who did that. Christ himself. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And yet he says this when he never sinned. Well,
what this does is it shows us the reality of imputation. the reality of my sins actually
becoming His, and Him feeling the guilt and the shame of them. You know, this makes us feel
bad, doesn't it? To think of my filth being placed in Him,
and Him feeling the shame and the guilt. Now, this is why He
can be touched by the feelings of our infirmities. He's felt
them. He knows what it is to feel guilty
and ashamed and forsaken and alone. He felt all of that in
the garden of Gethsemane when he sweat great drops of blood,
when he was hanging on the cross saying, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Oh, he was forsaken by God. God really did forsake him. That's
what I deserve. But he took my place and he felt
all of this himself. And that's why, oh thank God,
he's touched. He's moved to sympathy by the
feelings of our infirmities. But let's read these verses again.
Verse 11. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord, Let thy loving kindness and thy truth
continually preserve me. I need to be preserved. I need
to be kept. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're more than
the hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me.
Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help
me. Now, those are the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ, but those are also the words of David.
And David is telling us how he felt about his own personal sin
and what he needed from the Lord. As I've said, I've entitled this
message, What a Real Sinner Needs. Now, this confession of sin that
David makes, I don't think there's a more powerful confession in
all the Word of God, what he says about himself. And he tells
us what he needs. And you know, I was thinking
about this. An unbeliever could never feel this way about their
sin. They couldn't enter into this.
You know, it's interesting. Whenever I prepare a sermon,
I get on sermonaudio.com, and I try to find out anyone who's
preached a sermon on whatever I'm preaching on. And I plug
this in, and I was listening to a preacher who said, David
was a really sinful person. And I thought, you're not? you're
not. I mean, this is, you know, he
he talked about David that way, but an unbeliever could never
enter into this confession of sin. He just couldn't do it.
Now, look what David says in verse eleven. He says, withhold
not. Now, here's the first thing that
I need. I need the Lord to not withhold from me. I need him to give to me. I can't
handle being left to myself. Withhold not. Now David knew
if the Lord did withhold, he'd be just. But he said, oh Lord,
please don't withhold this from me. I need the Lord. This is
what I need. I need the Lord to not withhold
from me. I need him to give me his grace.
To not withhold. Let's go on reading. Withhold
not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness
and thy truth, it's got to be according to truth, continually
preserve me. Now, turn over to Psalm 51 for
just a moment. Remember the words loving kindness
and tender mercies. David says in Psalm 51 verse
one, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness,
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out
my transgression. Now, if you know anything about
the history of Psalm 51, he's writing this Psalm after he had
actually committed murder. and committed adultery. He was
guilty of these. He didn't just think it, he did
it. And he is praying for forgiveness at this time, and the only argument
he has with God, he says, forgive me according to thy loving kindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions, put them away. Now this is what David is asking
for at this time. Turn back to Psalm 40. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. I need to be preserved. If the
Lord doesn't preserve me, I'll fall away, right like that. And
I know that right now. If he doesn't keep his hand on
me, it's over for me. I need to be preserved. Now, look what he says in verse
12. This is what he says about his sin. Innumerable evils. Innumerable evils have compassed
me about everywhere I look. There they are. Mine iniquities
have taken hold upon me like a vice grip I can't get away
from, so that I am not able to look up. I can't even look up.
They are more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart
fails me. Now notice the number of his
sins. Innumerable. Innumerable. More than the hairs
of my head. And they had a presence of compassing
him about. Everywhere he turned, there they
were. And they had a grip on him. He
said, they've taken hold of me. So that I'm not even able to
look up. I'm paralyzed by them to where
I can't even look up. You'll not find David making
excuses for his sins. They were all his fault. And
this is the way he comes into God's presence. Not like Adam,
the woman that you gave me. She gave me of the fruit and
I did eat. You've never confessed your sin.
I've never confessed my sin until I've seen that it's all my fault. One hundred percent. I don't
blame God. I don't blame God's sovereignty.
I don't blame my circumstances. It's all my fault. Now, he simply says, my heart,
that's my big problem. My heart fails me. Now, this
is what it feels like to be a real sinner, not a complimentary sinner. You know, are you a sinner? Sure.
Everybody, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about
somebody who before God, they see that they are evil, sinful, without any personal
righteousness at all. a real sinner. Not just one,
a complimentary one, but I mean a real sinner. What does a real sinner need? Well, look what David says, verse
13. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me Oh Lord, make haste to help me. Now what does a real sinner need? I need the Lord to be pleased, to deliver me. This is the same appeal that
the leper had. He's appealing to the sovereign
pleasure of God. This is what I need. I need God
to be pleased for it to be His sovereign will to deliver me. Isn't that what the leper said? Oh, the leper came and worshiped
Him saying, Lord, if you will, Do you know what he's saying?
My salvation is totally up to your will, not my will, if you
will. You can make me clean. That's what I need. I need to
be made clean. And the only way I can be made
clean is if it's your sovereign will. to make me clean. Now this is what a real sinner
needs. Somebody who has innumerable
evils encompassing them about. Somebody whose iniquities have
taken hold upon them so that they're not even able to look
up. All they can appeal to is the sovereign will of Christ. If you will Lord be pleased Be
pleased, let it be your pleasure to make me clean. Now God, I like saying this, God is. God is. And he is as he says he is. What you and I think about God
has no bearing on the reality of who he is. He is as he says
he is in his word. And we're thankful for that,
aren't we? He's faithful. He's faithful to who he is. Now,
in his word, he tells us what he's pleased with. You know,
David said, be pleased to deliver me. Well, in his word, he tells
us what he himself is pleased with. And I want to know what
he's pleased with, don't you? I want to know exactly what he's
pleased with so that I want to find out how he can be pleased
with me. Because I know in and of myself, he can't be pleased
with me. So how could this holy God actually
be pleased with me. Now in the word, I repeat, this
glorious divine being tells us what pleases him. Well, first
of all, do you know that God is pleased with everything he
does? Everything he does, he's utterly
pleased with. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did. Psalm 135. Psalm 115. David, where's your God? Our
God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. He doeth according to His will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest thou? Whatever God does, He's pleased
with. You know, that's a glorious thing
about Him, isn't it? Whatever He does, He's pleased
with. Whatever He does is glorious. Well, Colossians 119 says, It
pleased the Father that in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, should
all fullness dwell. Now, that's what pleases God. It pleased Him that in His Son
should all fullness dwell. all the fullness of the Godhead.
And you know, when I try to talk about the fullness of the Godhead,
I feel really stupid trying to talk about this. His immensity,
His sovereignty, His holiness, His faithfulness, His omnipotence,
His omniscience, His eternality, His immutability, all the fullness
of the Godhead dwells in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His body. That's what pleases God. Now,
when I thought about this, I thought about the Mount of Transfiguration. When the Lord takes Peter and
James and John up into a mountain and prays before them, and while
he's praying, His deity bursts through his
humanity. His face shines like the sun. His clothes become white
and glistening. And Peter had to talk at this
time. He didn't know what else. He
had to say something. He said, Lord, it's good for us to be
here. Let's make three tabernacles. One for you and one for Moses
and one for Elijah. You see, when he was transfigured
before them, Moses and Elijah appeared to him. And you know
what they talked about? They talked about the deceased. which he should accomplish. You
see, his death was an accomplishment. Oh, isn't that glorious? His
death was an accomplishment. He accomplished something by
his death. He accomplished the complete salvation of all of
God's elect. Now, Peter said, let's make three
tabernacles. One for thee, one for Moses and
one for Elijah. And then a bright cloud came
down and overshadowed them. And a voice came from the cloud,
the voice of the father. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye him. Now, when I talk
about what I need, I need more than anything else to be found
in Christ. So that when God looks at me,
all he sees is Jesus Christ. Do you need that? That's what I need. Paul put
it this way in Philippians chapter 3 verse 9, Oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. Now here's what a real sinner
needs. I need to be found in Jesus Christ. So that when God
looks at me, all he sees is Jesus Christ. That's what baptism depicts. You know, when you go under the
water, you're all the way under the water. And when you're seen,
you're seen only under the water. I need to be seen only under
Christ, in Christ. So that's all that God sees. Now that's what a real sinner
needs. I need to be found in him. He's the one in whom God is well
pleased. In 1 Samuel chapter 12, would
you turn with me there? 1 Samuel chapter 12. Verse 20. And Samuel said unto the people,
fear not. You have done all this wickedness.
He didn't say you hadn't done it. He said you're guilty of
this wickedness. Yet turn not aside from following
the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And turn
ye not aside, for then should you go after vain things which
cannot profit nor deliver for their vain. For the Lord will
not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it
hath pleased the Lord. It hath pleased the Lord to make
you his people. Now here's what I need the Lord
to do for me. I need him to be pleased to make
me his people. This is just another word for
election. I need him to choose me and make me his people. I need him to do that. You know,
I think it's amazing that there are people who claim to preach
the gospel and they don't even preach election. I'm not one
of them. Election is as much a part of
the gospel as any other aspect of the gospel. I need him. I
need him to sovereignly reach down and choose me and make me
his own. By the grace of God, you're not
going to hear this sinner proclaiming or complaining against election
like it's wrong or unjust on God's part to choose one and
pass by another. I know what I deserve. I deserve to be sent
to hell right now. That's what I deserve. And oh,
how thankful I am for the children, being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand, not of works. Is that good news to you?
That salvation is not of works? But of him that calleth, it was
said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it's written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. I need God's electing
mercy. I need him to choose me and to
make me to be one of his people. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. I want to be
made His people, don't you? Lord, do that for me. I turn to Isaiah
chapter 53. Now remember David's plea, be
pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. I'm thinking about what the Lord's
pleased to do. Verse 10. Yet, yet, it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, to crush him. And that's what happened on the
cross. And it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him
to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Now, I don't know how to say
this the way it ought to be said, but I need the Lord to take my
personal sin on himself. And that makes me feel horrible
to think of him experiencing that. But I need the Lord to
take my sin off of me, to lift it off of me and place it upon
his blessed son. And I need for him to be bruised
and crushed and feel the awful weight of the wrath of God for
me. I need him to do that for me. That's what a real sinner
needs. You see, the only way my sin
can be dealt with is by the Lord putting it away to where it is
no more. I need, oh how I need the Lord
to do this for me. I need him to stand as my surety,
as my substitute, and put away my sin. God is holy, sin must
be punished. I need Christ to bear my sin
away. I love that scripture in Hebrews
9, 26. Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And that's exactly
what he did. That's what I need. It pleased
the Lord. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Now would you turn to Isaiah
chapter 42. You're already in Isaiah. Verse 21 of Isaiah, chapter 42. The Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. A real sinner needs the righteousness
of Christ. Now this is what I need. This
is what every real sinner needs. I need the righteousness of Christ
so that God can be pleased with me for His righteousness sake. His law keeping, Him magnifying
the law and making it honorable by His life. I need, oh how I
need His righteousness. We read in Matthew chapter 6
when Paul was reading, seek ye the kingdom of God and His righteousness. His righteousness. How I need
the perfect righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ. I don't
only need my sin paid for. I need that. I need my sin paid
for and put away and blotted out. But not only do I need my
sin paid for, I need to have a righteousness that God is pleased
with. I need, oh, I need the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. I know beyond the shadow of a
doubt, in my case, There isn't any righteousness, but he is.
And every, every person who's a real sinner believes that. The only righteousness there
is, is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now turn to
first Corinthians chapter one. Verse 21. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, I love this, the world by wisdom, by its own wisdom,
knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. I need, and this is
what this sinner needs, I need to hear the preaching of the
gospel. I need, oh, I need to hear the
preaching of the gospel. Nothing less will do. I need
to hear. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died. for the ungodly. I need to hear
that. I need to hear it over and over again. I need to hear. This is a faithful saying and
it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. I need to hear thou shalt call
his name Jesus for He shall save his people from their sins. You
know, I need to hear that over and over again. I need to hear
the gospel. You know, please God. This is what pleases God.
By the foolishness of some fool like me standing up and declaring
his word. That's how God saves sinners. And I need to hear the preaching
of the gospel. But not only do I need to hear
the preaching of the gospel, I need to be given ears to hear.
I need to be given a heart to receive. I need to be able to
hear the preaching of the gospel. So that's what I need. I need
the preaching of the gospel. Let us come boldly, the scripture
says, to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. I need the preaching of
the gospel. Now turn with me to Hebrews chapter
11. Verse 5. By faith Enoch was translated. You know this man never died.
He was just walking along the road one day and all of a sudden
God took him up into heaven. He never experienced physical
death. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death and was not found. People were
looking for him, evidently. What ever happened to Enoch?
Nobody could find him. He was gone. God took him up.
because God had translated him, for before his translation, he
had this testimony that he pleased God. Now, what do you think of
when you think of Enoch pleasing God? Do you think of a man that
was just so holy and so righteous that God just said, I gotta get
him up here? He was just as sinful as me and
you. You believe that? He was just
as sinful. He had the same wicked thoughts.
He had the same wicked motives. He did the same bad things. He
was a sinner, just like me and you. Yet he pleased God, verse
six, but without faith, it is what? Impossible. Impossible. It's not going to
happen. Without faith, It is impossible to please God, for
he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him. You know what I need? I need faith. You know, there's a passage in
Galatians chapter three that, as a matter of fact, I'm talking
about there. Galatians chapter 3. I'm getting ahead of myself
because I'm going to preach on this in a few weeks, but it was
such a blessing to me to look at it. Verse 23. Before faith came. You know what
that means? It came. It came. It's not something you didn't
come to faith. Faith came to you. Isn't that
your experience? You found yourself believing.
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up under
the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Look in verse 25,
but after that faith is come, oh, may faith come to me. May the
Lord give me this faith. Now, what is faith? You know, anytime I try to define
faith, it makes me nervous, because I don't want to mess it up. And
it's the easiest thing to mess up, because of all the warped
ideas we have. What is faith? Faith is a complete
reliance upon Jesus Christ as everything in my salvation. How much does God look to Christ
to accept me? How much? Does he look for everything in
his son to accept you? Well, you know he does. That's
how much we look to Christ for acceptance. However it is that
God looks to him, we look to him. It's called faith in Christ. And if I trust the Lord Jesus
Christ as everything God requires of me, I'm leaning on Him. I'm
resting in Him. I'm looking to Him. I'm not looking
to myself for a thing, because there's nothing there to look
for. There really isn't. I'm looking wholly to Him. And
you know what that means? That means God, the holy, spotless,
righteous God is pleased with me. Without faith, it's impossible to please God.
He that cometh to God must believe that he is. I need faith. I need him to give
me faith. Let me say this. If you can't
come to Christ with faith, come to Christ for faith. Ask him
to give it to you. Faith in himself. Now turn back to Psalm 40. David says in verse 12, For innumerable evils have compassed
me about, mine 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. Somebody's wondering,
what do you reckon David was doing that made him talk that
way? May the Lord give us a true sense
of sin. Verse 13. Here's the only thing he could
plea. Be pleased. Oh, may this be your
pleasure. May this be your will to do this. Be pleased, oh Lord, to deliver
me. Save me. Oh Lord, make it your
pleasure to save me. Save me from my sin. Save me
from myself. Save me. Be pleased to do this
for me. It's up to you. I can't merit
this. All I can do is fall at your
feet and say, Oh Lord, be pleased to do this for me. I don't have one thing to recommend
myself to God. I'm bankrupt and I have great
needs. Look down at verse 17. Look what
David said about himself. He said, I'm poor and I'm needy. You know, he described himself
this way 10 times in the scripture. This is David, the man after
God's own heart. And he describes himself thusly,
I'm poor. I don't have anything that would
recommend me to God, and I have great needs. Would this be you? Poor and needy. He said, I'm poor and I am needy,
yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer.
Make no tarrying, O my God. You know, if you're not in a
hurry for God's mercy, you don't really even need it. If you're
in a hurry for God's mercy, it's because you desperately need
it. Don't make any tarrying. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
make haste and help me. Remember me. Think on me. Now
this is, David is here praying the same thing the thief prayed,
isn't he? Lord, remember me. Just think on me. Remember me when you come in
your kingdom as a mighty reigning king. Remember me. Now this is what a real sinner
needs. I'm not talking about someone
who does wrong things and makes mistakes every now and then.
I'm talking about a real bonafide sinner before God. This is what
a real sinner needs first. He needs to be found in Christ. He needs to be made one of his
people. He needs God to choose him. He
needs Christ to be bruised in his place. He needs to have the
very righteousness of Jesus Christ as his own personal righteousness
before God. He needs to hear the gospel. Nothing else will do. He needs
to hear the gospel of God, the truth. And he needs to be given faith. And he needs for the Lord to
deliver him. Nothing less will do. That is what a real sinner needs. May God make every one of us
real sinners with these real needs. Let's pray.