Psalm, this evening we're going
to look at Psalm 51. Psalm 51, I'm taking the title
for the message, what David chiefly prays for, and that is mercy. Mercy and pardon of sin. Mercy, the mercy of God, and
the pardon of sin against God. So the title I'm giving to the
message A sinner's plea for mercy. I'm a mercy beggar, aren't you?
A sinner's plea for mercy. This, I think, when we read Psalm
51, is a display of a truly repentant heart that believes God. That's what we read in this psalm,
a repentant heart that believes The Lord Jesus Christ is all
of our salvation. This psalm, like that found in
Luke 18, is a sinner's prayer. You remember the sinner's prayer
in Luke 18? God be merciful to me, the sinner. Someone asked me one time, said,
I don't know what to pray for. I don't know how to pray. I told
them to pray these seven words. You ever find yourself in that
situation? Don't know what to pray or don't
know how to pray? Remember these seven words found in Luke 18. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. We can shorten that to three
words. You remember the woman in Matthew
15 who had the daughter who was desperately sick and she sought
the Lord for mercy? Remember what she cried? Lord,
help! Help me. Three words. I love to be able to pray that
way. God, be merciful to me, thee sinner. And if that's too
long, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Now, the Lord
gives David this cry of mercy when Nathan the prophet, as we
read earlier from 2 Samuel 12, when Nathan the prophet confronted
David with his and said, you're guilty of adultery, you're guilty
of murder, thou art the man. And then the prophet of God gave
David good news, said, the Lord hath put away thy sin. Now what
would rejoice the heart of a guilty man? He sinned against God. David knew he was caught red-handed. He couldn't hide and cover up
his sin. He tried. That's why he had Uriah
the Hittite murdered. He tried to cover up his sin.
But David knew he was guilty before God. And he heard that
good news, the Lord hath put away thy sin. What better news
could you hear that the Lord has put away your sin? David
does not justify himself or defend himself. He comes to the throne
of grace as a sinful, guilty, mercy beggar. Have mercy upon
me, O God. Verse 1. Have mercy upon me,
O God. Let us make this our plea. Let's
make this personal to you. Make this your song. Make this
your cry. I'm a sinner. I'm a great sinner.
I like what John Newton said on his deathbed. I'm a great
sinner. The Lord Jesus Christ is a greater
Savior. A great Savior. Now let's look
at verse 1 and I'm going to try to get down to verse 19. If we can, if not, we'll just
quit when the time is up. Have mercy upon me, O God. Here's
what we all need and none of us are worthy of. Notice he says,
have mercy upon me, oh God, according to the fact that I'm your king.
He didn't say that. Have mercy upon me according
to, I'm your anointed. He didn't say that. You see,
mercy is not according to merit. It wouldn't be mercy if it was
according to merit. According to your loving kindness. Have
mercy, have mercy upon me. I like what Jacob said, I'm not
worthy of the least of your mercies. No one, no sinner is worthy of
mercy. We deserve wrath, don't we? Judgment, not mercy. We deserve
eternal condemnation. But according to your love and
kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. I love
that word according. According to, I thought of three
scriptures considering that word according. My God shall supply
all your need according to His riches and glory through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us. That's a good word, isn't it?
God saves us according to His purpose and grace in the Lord
Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 1.9, God who saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
work, but according to His purpose and grace given us in Christ
before the world began. His mercy to us springs from
the fountain of His everlasting covenant of love, His loving
kindness. David said this, you remember,
on his deathbed. He said, although it be not so
with my house, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, this is all my hope, all my desire,
all my salvation. The Lord's love to his people
is everlasting love. His mercies are new to us every
morning. God's grace, his grace is God
giving us what we do not deserve. We're justified freely by his
grace. His mercy is God not giving us
what we do deserve. What do we deserve? Judgment
because of our guilt. But according to the multitude
of thy tender mercies, he says the last part of verse one, blot
out my transgression. Again, he repeats that down in
verse nine, hide thy face from my sin, blot out my iniquities. Now here we see that three-headed
monster. Wash me throughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. You remember
Psalm 32? Transgression, sin, and iniquity. Blessed is that man. whose transgressions
are forgiven. Blessed is that man whose sin
is covered. Blessed is that man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, in whose spirit there is no guile.
So David prays for mercy according to the loving kindness of God,
according to the multitude. The multitude, can you multiply
how merciful God is? Multiply it again and again and
again and again. The storehouse of mercy never
runs dry. Never runs dry. The multitude
of our tender mercies. Blot out my sin, blot out my
sin. We have a multitude of sin, a
multitude of iniquities, a multitude of transgressions that need blotted
out. Remember Romans 5, where sin
abounded, grace does much more abound. That as sin has reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Lord our God can
justly forgive all our sin based upon and according to the covenant
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. His blood washes away all our
sin. We sing that song, what can wash
away my sin? You remember? What can wash away
my sin? Nothing, nothing, nothing but
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ so fully
put away our sin, so fully put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself that God Almighty said their sin and their iniquity
I remember no more. I remember no more. They're gone.
As far as the east is from the west, so far have they removed
our transgression from us. You remember Psalm 103? In Isaiah,
God said they're cast behind his back, cast in the depths
of the sea, blotted out as a thick cloud. You got the idea. They're gone. Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ, didn't make an effort to put away sin. He didn't
put away some of our sin. If that be the case, we're in
big trouble. He put away all our sin. Call His name Jesus. He shall save His people from
their sin. Did He do it? Absolutely so. Now look at verse 2, verse 7,
and verse 9. Wash me. Wash me throughly. Wash me completely. Wash me all
over from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Again,
he says in verse 7, purge me with hyssop. Whenever you see
hyssop, just think of blood. They took that little hyssop
branch, that little shrub. I tried to look that up today
to see what it was and it's kind of a mysterious bush. But some
kind of a bush that they would cut and they would dip in that
blood and then they would sprinkle it. or smear it on the day of
that Passover there in Egypt. Purge me with hyssop, purge me
with the blood. That's what he's saying here.
Purge me with the blood and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall
be whiter than the snow. Again, verse nine, hide thy face
from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. David is interested,
very interested in having his sin put away at me. If your sin
is put away by God our Savior, they're put away forever, never
to be brought up again, never to be mentioned again. You remember
we studied in Hebrews chapter one, when he had by himself purged
our sin, he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God Almighty.
He purged us with His blood. Sin makes us defiled. Sin separates
us from God. Isaiah 59-2, God said, your sins
have separated you from God. We're helpless to purge ourselves
from our sin, from the guilt of it, from the defilement of
it. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ can purge our sin. That's why His blood is called
precious blood. We're not redeemed with corruptible
things, are we? Silver and gold? But with what? The precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God bought us with His own blood. Well, that's precious, isn't
it? We're shut up to the mercy of the Lord doing this for us.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sin, according to the riches of his grace. We cannot purge
ourselves from our sin. We cannot put away our sin. The blood of bulls and goats
cannot put away sin. Sin is pretty difficult to put
away. It only can be made atonement
for through the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is love, not that we love
God. He loved us, and He sent His Son to be the atonement for
our sin. That's what puts away our sin. Not what we have done. It's what
Christ has done for us. What Christ has done for us.
We're shut up to the mercy of the Lord doing this for us. The
washing we need must go deeper than the dirt of our skin. Now you can work out in the garden
all day and get all dirty and sweaty and everything. You go
in, hop in the shower and you can wash most of the dirt off.
Maybe you think if you scrub long enough you can get all of
the dirt off. But we can't wash our sin off
like that. It doesn't work that way. The baptismal pool will
not wash away sin. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
must go deeper than the stain and guilt of sin, and thank God
it does. His blood cleanses us from all
our sin. We're justified freely by His
grace through the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
from our study in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 118, where it
says there, Verse 7 again, purge me with hyssop, purge me with
his blood, and I shall be clean. I shall be clean. Wash me and
I shall be whiter. Now what's whiter than the snow?
That's about as white as you can get, isn't it? When it's
freshly fallen snow. I love it when the sun's shining
on that freshly fallen snow and it just twinkles and glistens
and doesn't it? The reflection of the glory of
the Son, the glory of Christ. Isaiah 118, come now, 118, come
now, let us reason together, say it to the Lord. Though your
sin be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool, white as wool, white
as wool. Now, watch me throughly, have
mercy upon me, blot out my sin. Look at verse three, four. because
for I acknowledge I own my sin I own notice the word my transgression
I own my sin and ever before me verse 4 against thee in thee
only have I sinned. I have sinned, have I sinned,
and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified
when you speak, and clear when you judge. But I behold, I was
shapen in iniquity. In sin did my mother conceive
me." Here's David's confession. Let's make it our confession.
David takes the Lord's side against himself. in repentance when confronted
with his sin, when Nathan said, you're the man, you're the one,
you're the guilty one. When confronted with his sin,
David said, I acknowledge my sin and my confession. Now notice, and here's something
very interesting, for I acknowledge my transgression. How many times
have you ever read in scripture of any believer praying, Lord,
forgive me for Adam's sin. Not one time. Not one time. It's always, and
David prays repeatedly, repeatedly, Lord, have mercy upon me because
I'm the sinner. I'm the sinner. Even though in
Adam we have all sinned, all my sin is my fault. My fault. David said it's my transgression,
it's my sin. It's my sin, my transgression. It is my evil in God's sight. It's my iniquity. What is sin? It is a horrible sin because
every sin is against God. And we've all sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not
One, not one. Psalm 14 says, God looked down
from heaven to see if there were any. He said, they're all gone
out of the way, there's none. No, not one. John says in 1 John
3, sin is the transgression of the law. Whosoever commit a sin
transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression of the
law. But John goes on to say, and
we know he was manifested to take away our sin And in Him
is no sin. He had no sin, knew no sin, and
did no sin. God made Him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin that we might be made to righteousness of God
in Him. Lord, make me to know, make me
to know I'm a sinner. Against Thee and Thee only have
I sinned. Against Thee and Thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight. As He says in verse
4, Sin is against God, and it's evil in His sight. David is saying
here in verse 4, if you justify me and condemn me, you'd be right. That's exactly what I deserve. You must be justified when you
speak and clear when you judge. David said, I was born that way.
I didn't grow up and become a sinner. We're born in sin, shaping in
iniquity from the get-go. Dogs produce dogs, right? Horses
produce horses. Cows produce cows. Sinners produce sinners, right? My mother was a sinner. My daddy
was a sinner. And they produced this sinner.
For old I was shapen in iniquity, in sin did my mother conceive
me. We're born in sin. Think about
this. If this flesh was not sinful,
it would never get sick, it would never go old, it would never
die. But every time I look in the
mirror, there's changes going on. I don't look the way I did 40
years ago, 50 years ago, not even 10 years ago. Something's
happening in this flesh. That's because of sin. Because
of sin. When sin is finished with this
flesh, you remember what we studied in the book of James? When sin
is finished, it brings forth death. This flesh is going back to the
dust because it's born in sin. Guilty before God. Look at verse
6. Behold, behold, look at this. Thou desirest truth in the inward
parts. Now you can clean up the outside
all you want. You can reform the old man. The
flesh is still flesh. God desires truth inwardly in
the heart. Salvation is a heart work in
the inward parts. And in the hidden part, thou
shalt make me to know wisdom. Wisdom is Christ. We see in the
Lord Jesus Christ the wisdom of God putting away our sin,
don't we? Again he said, purge me with
hyssop, purge me with the blood, verse 7, and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than the snow. Look at verse 8. Only in Christ do we see the
wisdom of God, how God can be just and the justifier. Remember
Psalm 85, mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and
peace have kissed each other. Now look at verse 8. and verse
17 together. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Look at verse
17. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit. A broken and a contrite, a convicted
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Conviction of heart is a blessing.
To be convicted of your sin by God, the Holy Spirit, is a blessing.
Because when He convicts us of our sin, He shows us the remedy
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Make me to hear joy and gladness
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. God has nighed them of a broken
spirit. You see the reference there on
verse 17. Psalm 34, 18. God has nighed
them of a broken heart. Save us such as be of a contrite
spirit. Conviction of sin is a blessing.
Because with the conviction of sin comes repentance toward God
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. David says, verse 9, hide thy
face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. And we know
that can only be done through the blood sacrifice of Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. It's God's Lamb
to put away our sin. It's His Lamb. The sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to this. This is so
misunderstood by religious folks. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ is unto the Lord. It's offered unto the Lord. It's
not offered to men. It's offered unto the Lord. This
is His offering. That's why it's not up for acceptance
or rejection. The blessedness of the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ is that God says, with His sacrifice,
I'm well pleased. I'm well pleased. So make me
to hear the joy, gladness. There's joy and gladness in knowing
that Christ has put away our sin. Look at verse 10 now. Create in me a clean heart. As I said, salvation is a heart
work. Now who's the creator? Who's God the only one that can
create He created this whole universe. In the beginning, God
said, let there be light. God creates in the center a new
heart. He takes away that old stony
heart and gives us a new heart, a clean heart, a regenerated
heart. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature and a renewed, and renew a constant spirit within
me, a right spirit. A constant spirit of faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Always looking, always looking
to our Lord Jesus Christ. David not only begs for mercy
and pardon, but joy and gladness. He also prays for reconciliation. Create in me a new heart. Give
me a right spirit. A right spirit, a right heart
of repentance. Remember, it's the goodness of
God that leads us unto repentance. And then he says in verse, and
this is David's prayer. This is his prayer of repentance.
Make me to hear joy, purge me, hide thy face from my sin, blot
out all my iniquities, create in me a clean heart, renew a
right spirit within me, cast me not away. Cast me not away
from thy presence. David felt like he should have
been cast away. But he cries, Lord, don't throw
me away. Don't cast me away from thy presence.
Take not thy Holy Spirit. Take not thy Holy Spirit from
me. Give me a right spirit. Cast
me not away. He's saying here, hold me tight.
Never leave me. Never forsake me. And that's
what the Lord said. He said, I'll never leave thee.
I'll never forsake thee. David desired close, sweet communion
and fellowship with the Lord that was broken because of his
sin. Uphold me, he says in verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. Now David didn't lose his salvation
when he sinned against God. But he certainly lost the joy
of it. He says, restore that joy back to me. That joy of thy
salvation. It's His salvation. Salvation
of the Lord, is it not? And uphold me with thy free spirit. Uphold me with thy free spirit. Now look that word up, free,
right there. It has to do with generosity. It has to do with the willingness
of God You remember, thy people shall be willing in the day of
God's power. Uphold me with thy generous,
willing spirit, that I might be a lover of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at verse 13. Then, when you restore, and you
uphold me, and you make me willing in the day of thy power. Look
at verse 13. Then, then, I'll teach transgressors thy
ways. David having received this salvation
of the Lord, having his sin put away by the Lord Jesus Christ,
having received mercy by the sovereign grace of God, then
I'll teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted. How are they converted? Through
teaching the truth. through the preaching of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, then I'll proclaim the salvation
of the Lord. Then I'll teach, you see preaching
is, as I've said to you over the years, preaching is repeating
what God has already said. Preaching is one beggar telling
another beggar where he found bread. And that's what this beggar
tries to do each time I stand here before you, to point you
to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the bread of life. And when
the gospel is taught, And when we teach the Word of God, sinner
shall be converted of his own will. Beget he us with the Word
of truth. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
by the Word of God. Deliver me. Verse 14. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God. And I love this statement. Thou God of my salvation. He's
the God of my salvation. That's good news. Paul often
called the Lord Jesus Christ God, our Savior. He's the God of our salvation
in its origination, its execution, its sustaining power, its ultimate
perfection. He's the God of our salvation.
And my tongue shall sing aloud of, oh, how righteous I am. I misread that, didn't I? And my tongue shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness, even thine only. You see, we don't have
any righteousness of our own, do we? The only righteousness
this sinner has before God is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all
our righteousness before God. Everything we have is, Isaiah
calls it, filthy rags in God's sight. Deliver me from guiltiness,
blood guiltiness, murder. Would God save a murderer? Would
God save an adulterer? God saves sinners. God committed
His love toward us, and while we're yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Thou God of my salvation, and
my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. He is the
Lord, our righteousness. He made unto us righteousness,
didn't He? Verse 15, O Lord, open thou my
lips, And my mouth shall show forth thy praise, thy salvation. For thou desirest not sacrifice. David could have sacrificed a
thousand lambs. No problem. A thousand bullocks. No problem. Thou desirest not
sacrifice, else I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offerings. What does the Lord God Almighty
delight in? The sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Verse 18. Do good in thy good
pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Do good in thy good pleasure.
The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. You remember?
And he said, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Do good and thy good pleasure
unto Zion, unto his people, unto the elect of God, his church,
and build them up. Build up the walls of Jerusalem.
He's our sure refuge, is he not? In closing, verse 19, then, then
thou shalt be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness.
Now that can only mean Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was
sacrificed for us. Remember, it pleased the Lord
to bruise Him. Thou shalt be pleased with the
sacrifice of righteousness. Isaiah 42 says, the Lord is well
pleased for His righteousness sake. He will magnify the law
and make it honorable. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness sake. With burnt offerings, whole burnt
offerings, the Lord Jesus Christ is our offering unto the Lord
that's well-pleasing unto God. Then shall they offer bullocks
upon that altar. Think about this, the Lord Jesus
Christ is our sacrifice, He's our altar, He's our Lamb, and
He's the God to whom the sacrifice is offered unto. That's amazing. He's our altar. He's the God,
the God of my salvation.