Good evening, everybody. We're so thankful to be here. I've been in Kingsport now for
three and a half years, and it's not that long and I'm not that
old. It's becoming more and more clear
to me, more clear to me today than whenever I first got there,
that this gospel is everything. I mean, this is everything. And everything else is nothing. God's people are the kingdom
of God on earth. And we love you all. I mean, we just love you all.
This is our joy and pleasure to be here and worship with you.
And we're just grateful. We're all so grateful for the
Lord and what He's done. Turn with me, if you would, to
Psalm 25. Psalm 25. We're going to look
at one verse of Scripture for our text tonight. It's a very
precious verse. Verse 11. Psalm 25, verse 11. It says, For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon mine iniquity, For it is great. Now, if we truly think about
what that verse is saying, if we could enter into what that
verse is saying, that is an amazing verse. That is an amazing verse
of scripture. For thy name's sake, O Lord,
Harden mine iniquity, for it is great. David said, my sin
is great. That's what he said, my sin is
great. I've thought before about the
fact that I am so thankful that my sin is not on record somewhere
for people to walk up and read. Aren't you so glad for that?
The sins of this heart, the sins of the actions. Aren't you so glad for that?
These men that are in the Scripture, our dear brethren, their sins
are on record for all of God's children to walk up to and read. God put them all on... He didn't
exempt anybody, not hardly anybody. And when I think of David, David
wrote this, I think of a man after God's own heart. Isn't
that what God said about him? God's own heart. I love that
man. I think of a young boy who was chosen to be the king of
Israel. Don't you love that story? We
know that Samuel goes in and they start with the biggest and
the strongest and he says, not him. What? Well, okay, it's gotta
be the next one. All the way down. Is there anybody
else? Not really, no. I've got one
kid out there keeping sheep. Bring him in here. Soon as he
walked into the room, God said, arise, anoint him. That's the
one. He's the one. When I think of
David, I think about a young boy who had courage. Could you
imagine fighting a lion? I don't even like seeing him
at the zoo, really. I don't like getting too close to the glass.
He fought a lion, he fought a bear, and he fought a giant. Courageous. I think of a man
who brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel. I have so much respect for him.
God's chosen king, but the fact of the matter is David was a
sinner. He was a sinner. That story of Naaman in the book
of Kings, it says all those wonderful things about this man Naaman.
He was a mighty man of valor and he won great wars for his
king and his country and he did all these wonderful things, but
he was a leper. That's the only problem. He was
a leper. David was a great man, but he
was a sinner. He was a sinner. He lied to get
that showbread from the high priest. You remember that story?
He went to God's high priest and he said he was running from
the king, but he said, the king sent me to get this. I'm on the
king's errand. He lied. John Gill said it was a downright
lie. He just lied. And then, to save his own skin,
he didn't have faith in his God. He did not look to and trust
in his God. He didn't practice what he preached. What he did is he pretended to
be a madman. He let spit run down his beard.
He started scratching on the gates. Then there was a man named Uriah.
You know about that man Uriah. A man, this man Uriah, was fighting
for David. Literally fighting for David. Off, in battle, risking his life
for David, a devoted soldier of his king. David literally
took his world. Took his world. David was a married
man. He committed adultery against
his own wife. He committed adultery against
Uriah, Uriah's wife. And then when he was caught,
Bathsheba came and said, David, we have a little problem. And when he was caught, he tried
to cover it all up, didn't he? Just cover it all up. Tried to
get that man to go home to his wife, and that man wouldn't go.
He said, I'm going to stay right here. I'm going to stay with
this army. I'm going to sleep at your doorstep.
I'm going to protect my king. And when he wouldn't go home,
David had him killed. Killed the man. David's conscience
was so seared to it so absolutely seared to it all. He did not
feel one ounce of remorse, not one ounce until God in mercy
sent Nathan the prophet to him. And Nathan said, David, I want
to tell you about a great sinner. He stood up and he said, I want
to tell you about a great, great sinner. And when Nathan got to
the end of his story, David said, I want you to tell me who that
man is, and I'm going to deal with him. I'm going to take care
of him. I'm going to give him what's
coming to him. Nathan said, David, thou art the man. I hear, thou
art the man. When he said that, God's two-edged
sword pierced David's heart, didn't it? Isn't that the mercy
of God to us? That blinding, sharp, quickening,
oh! Thou art the man. It pierced
his soul. At that exact moment, this is
what David cried. Go with me over to Psalm 51. Psalm 51, right under the title,
there's a heading that says, To the chief musician, a psalm
of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone
into Bathsheba. This is what he said, Have mercy
upon me, O God. According to thy lovingkindness,
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions. wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. Wouldn't we love that? Cleanse
me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." Lord, you're the judge. That's
all I can say. You're the judge. You're the
judge. I stand before you a guilty sinner. I stand before you a guilty,
guilty sinner. Now go with me back to Psalm
25. Psalm 25 verse 11 says, For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon mine iniquity, for it is great." It's great. Now let me show you why this
verse is so amazing. This is so amazing. I have fallen
in love with this verse of Scripture. Could you imagine a prisoner,
a convicted prisoner? You guys, I'm sure you have a
jail around here somewhere. Could you imagine one of those
prisoners going before a judge and saying, Your Honor, the reason
I'm begging you to release me, I'm here for you to release me,
and the reason I'm begging for you to release me, I'm asking
you to pardon me, Pardon means excuse. Set free. I'm asking you to set me free.
Just excuse me. And the reason that I'm begging
for you to set me free is because I am such a great sinner. That's the reason. My transgressions
are so many. And they are so, so great. And I acknowledge every single
one of them. Every one of them. I am guilty
of every single one of them. So I'm asking, because of that,
would you pardon me? Could you imagine that? Could
you imagine anybody saying that before any judge? Most every
prisoner who has gone before a judge for pardon goes on the
grounds of, I'm not guilty. No, I'm not guilty. Or they go on the grounds of,
now I used to be a transgressor. And I will admit it, man, I used
to be, I just can't even go into what I used to be, but not anymore. Not anymore. But this is what
David's crying right here. I'm the worst. I literally am the worst. Please set me free. Why would
I do that? Because I'm the worst. I'm the
worst. Why on this earth would I do
that? Verse 11 says, For thy name's
sake. That's why, for thy name's sake. I'm asking you to do this for
your name's sake. What is His name? Call His name
Savior, Redeemer. Turn with me over to Jeremiah
23. Jeremiah 23, verse 5 says, Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and
a king shall reign, and prosper, and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name whereby
he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness." The Lord
our righteousness. You know what's so glorious about
that? It does not say, The Lord is
righteousness, even though He is. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say the Lord has earned
His own righteousness, even though He has. It doesn't say that. What it says is, His name is
the Lord, our righteousness. What have you ever done good? That's the Lord. Where is your
righteousness? There's my righteousness. The
Lord, our righteousness. Lord, for Thy name's sake. What's His name? The Lord, our
righteousness. For Thy name's sake. Pardon mine
iniquity. It's so great. It's so great. Lord, this is my plea. I'm begging
you to forgive me and set me free. And here's the only grounds
I have. This is all I have to go on.
You came into this world to save sinners. And I'm the greatest
sinner I've ever known. I'm the greatest sinner I have
ever known. Go with me over to Psalm 103. Psalm 103 verse 1 says, Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His
holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all His benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
every single one of them. I mean every single one of them. Who healeth all thy diseases,
who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving
kindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth thy mouth with
good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. The
Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are
oppressed. Every sinner who comes to Christ
begging for pardon, and His only grounds being the oppression
of His own sin. That's His only grounds. Not
the good works that He's tried to do. I'm trying to do better.
I'm trying to straighten up. I'm trying to fly right. None
of that stuff. I stand here acknowledging all of my sin, every single one
of them. But I've come to you for forgiveness.
I've come for pardon because of who you are. That's the whole
reason I'm here. It's because of who you are. For thy name's sake, every sinner
who comes on the grounds of being a sinner is going to receive
something from the Lord's hand. Every single one of them. Go
with me to Isaiah 61. Every sinner who comes begging
is going to receive something from the Lord's hand. Now this
is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Isaiah 61 verse 1 says, The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort
all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion. Now here's what they're gonna
get. Verse three says, to give unto them beauty for ashes. Every sinner who comes standing
in his own ashes, every sinner who comes in his own ashes, the
ashes of his own sin, is gonna receive in exchange for those
ashes the beauty of the Lord. David said, I can't wait to just
sit in his temple and look at the beauty of the Lord. I come
and David said, I'm coming and I acknowledge what I am, ashes. And I give them all to you in
exchange, the Lord said, here's the beauty of the Lord. The beauty of the Lord. That's
amazing, isn't it? Verse 3 goes on to say, the oil
of joy for mourning. Every sinner who comes, shedding
the tear of sorrow over sin. People have sorrow everywhere,
but the sorrow of sin, over that sin, every single one is going
to receive for his namesake, the oil of joy, that balm of
Gilead. The joy of the Lord, the joy
of forgiveness, the joy of a freed conscience. You know how wonderful
a freed conscience is? You ever felt guilty about something? I was feeling guilty about something
the other day and I had to call somebody and say, I'm feeling
guilty about this. And he said, don't even worry
about it. Thanks. What a relief. Well, that's just
a silly illustration of a freed conscience before God Almighty.
That's joy. That's joy. Verse 3 goes on to
say, "...the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness." that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that they might
be glorified. It's all for the Lord's glory
that He might be glorified. Every bit of it. He's going to
do everything for every chosen sinner for His own glory. It's
all for His own glory. It's for His namesake. Now go
with me to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31 and look at verse
31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah. I'm going to make a new covenant,
a brand new testament. Right before our Lord went to
that cross, He held up that cup and he said, this cup right here
is the new testament of my blood. That covenant used to be the
law. Now it's my blood. This is the
new covenant, the new testament of my blood, which is shed for
you. I'm going to forgive you. I'm
going to pardon you because I'm going to redeem you. I'm going
to pay for you. Verse 32 right here says, Not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was unhusband
unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts. and write
it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall
be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord, for they shall all know me." From the least of them
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive
their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. Is there a better verse in the
scripture than that? I'll forgive their iniquity and
I'll remember their sin no more. How's that even possible? How is that even possible? The God who knows everything,
does He not know everything? The end from the beginning. How is that even possible? Here's
how. He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. I'll pass over you. I won't even
look at you. When I see the blood, I won't
even look at your deeds. I won't even be looking at you.
I will keep my eye on Christ my Son. I will keep my eyes focused
on Christ my Son and His precious blood, that blood that's covering
you, poured all over you. You're going to be hiding in
Him. hiding in that blood. Now, if you want to be judged
on your own works, I won't put you in Christ, I'll stand you
next to Christ, and you can be judged compared to Christ. And
if that's the case, you'll die in your sins. But if you come
begging to be under that blood, and no matter how great a sinner
you are, if you come begging to be robed in His righteousness,
then the eye of God Almighty will be fixed on the payment
Christ made to forgive all that iniquity. And there's no more
sin to remember. There's no more to remember.
It's gone. That's the only way to come to Christ. It's as a
sinner. We never leave that. We never leave that. You'd think
at some point David would realize God chose him to be king. God
said he was a man after his own heart. He promised the Christ through
his seed. At some point, David would start
to realize, I belong to him. But you know what? While we're
on this earth, we're never gonna leave this right here. I'm the greatest
sinner that's ever lived. Have mercy on me. Forgive me. Pardon me. That's the only way
to come to Christ. It's as a sinner. And this is
what our Lord said. When a man comes begging, Lord,
for Thy name's sake, pardon mine iniquity because it's great.
When a man comes to me like that, he said, I will in no wise cast
out. Doesn't matter who it is. Any
man who comes begging, pardon me, Lord, because I'm the greatest
sinner I've ever known. Whoever comes like that, I'll
in no wise cast out. Every single one is going to
receive that balm of Gilead, that oil of joy. Every prisoner
is going to be set free. He truly does set prisoners free. He sets them free. So, come ye
sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus
ready stands to save you, full of pity, power, love. Come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, thank you, Brother Tom. While you were preaching there
on that word, pardon, this verse of scripture came to me, the
prayer of Nehemiah, Nehemiah 9, 17. Thou art a God ready to
pardon. He's ready. He'd like to show
mercy. Thou art a God ready to pardon.
Gracious, merciful, slow to anger. and a great kindness. What blessings we have in Christ.
Let's take our hymn book, line number And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? 44.