The first 10 verses, I want to
speak to you this morning on the first 10 verses of Psalm
51. This is a Psalm of David. Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according
unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me, the word is throughly,
from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge my transgressions.
My sin is ever before me against Thee and 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. Behold, I
was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. Purge me, purge me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in
me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Now before I get into the message,
and that's as far as I have chosen to go as far as the text is concerned,
but before I get into the message, let me pass on to you what some
of the great and used of God preachers of the past have said
about this psalm. Thomas Chalmers said this, Psalm
51 is the most deeply affecting
of all the psalms. It's the most applicable to me
personally. William Plummer said this, Psalm
51 is the sinner's guide and the believer's chief comfort. Martin Luther said this about
Psalm 51, there is no psalm out of the 150 psalms which is more
often sung or prayed in the Lord's Church It is perhaps the faith. Charles Spurgeon wrote these
words about Psalm 51. David wrote this psalm when the
divine message had aroused his conscience and made him to see the greatness
of his guilt before God and the extreme need he had of God's
mercy. Oh, that we might be so aroused
today. An unknown preacher of the past,
anonymous, said this, this is the brightest
gem in the whole book of Psalms. It contains instruction and truth
so precious that the tongues of angels could not do it justice
in its full measure of riches. And with that, this poor, simple
preacher attempts to preach from Psalm 51. But I will divide the first ten
verses into five parts to help us to understand what David is
saying here. Psalm 51, I'll divide it into
five parts. Very simple. The first two verses,
he talks about the mercy of God. The mercy of God. Verses three and four. is a confession
of sin. A confession of sin. What greater subject could we
have than the mercy of God? And a genuine confession of sin.
And the fifth and sixth verses contains the root of the whole
matter, the cause, the problem, the root of it. And verses 7 and 8 give us the
remedy. And verse 9 and 10, the glorious
results. David begins in verse 1, verses
1 and 2, Have mercy upon me, O God. Have mercy upon me. According to thy lovingkindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions. Have mercy upon me and blot out
my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Thank
God that God is merciful. He's plenteous in mercy. Mercy
is as much a part of God's nature, His divine nature, as justice.
God is holy, but God is love. God is just, but God is gracious. God is righteous, but God is
merciful. He's plenteous in mercy. He delights
to show mercy. That's His name, His character,
mercy. Someone said one time, well,
God could have saved everybody in the world. He has that kind
of power. or he could have damned everybody
in the world. Well, I might agree with the first statement. He
could have saved and delivered and made anew the whole world. But God can't damn everyone and
be God, because God is merciful. God is love. God is love. God delights to show mercy. Love
has to be expressed. Or it's not love, it has to be
expressed. It has to have an object. So
while God is just and righteous and holy, He is merciful, gracious,
and loving. Isn't that right? He must, God
has to show mercy. Because He is mercy. Be ye merciful
as your Father in heaven is mercy. When Moses asked God to show
him his glory, he said, Lord, show me your greater glory. Show me your glory. And the Lord
said, all right, I'll show you my glory. I'll make my goodness
pass before you. I will be merciful to whom I
will be merciful. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. That's my glory. So when David
says here, Lord, Have mercy on me. He has a basis on which to
ask that. For he says, have mercy upon
me according to your loving kindness, according to your tender mercies. Not according to what I deserve,
but according to what you are. David said, Lord, I'm not asking
for justice, I'm asking for mercy. You're a just God, but you're
merciful. I'm not asking for pity, I'm asking for pardon.
Let me show you a verse. Turn to Exodus 34. Exodus 34. Now here's both statements here. God is just. God will not clear
the guilty. God must punish sin. But God
is good and loving and gracious. And that's the reason He sent
Christ. For God so loved, He gave His
Son. In Exodus 34, this is God speaking
to Moses, verse 6, Exodus 34, 6, and the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, patient, abundant in goodness and truth. keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and
sins. That's God. That's God. But also, He will by no means
clear the guilty. And we're guilty, but He's provided
a Savior, a substitute, a sin offering by His mercy. But that's the name of God. All
right, back to our text. And look at David's request.
Have mercy upon me. Not justice, mercy. Not pity,
a full pardon. According to your loving kindness.
Don't base it on what I've done and what I am, but base it on
your loving kindness and your tender mercies. And blot out
my transgressions. Remember them no more. Wash me
throughly. inside and out, wash me throughly
for my iniquity, cleanse me, fully forgive me, fully pardon
me. I want justification and pardon
and mercy according to your loving kindness. Can you come that way
to God? According to your loving kindness
and your tender mercies, blot them out. All right, verse 3
and 4. Here's David's confession. And my friends, you can be sure
of one thing. Listen to me right here. You
can be sure of one thing. There will be no forgiveness
where there's no confession. The Scripture says if we confess
our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us. There's going
to be no forgiveness where there's no confession. There's going
to be no mercy where sin is covered and denied. What does the Bible
say? He that covereth his sin shall
not prosper. He that covereth his sin... Now,
love covers the sin of others. Love covereth a multitude of
sin. I don't tell on you. I don't
confess your sins. But I confess mine. You understand
what I'm saying? He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper. He that covers another sin shows
mercy and love. You got that? Hang on to that. But whoso confesseth his sins
and forsaketh them shall find mercy. Everybody's busy confessing everybody
else's sins, all of these exposés and so forth and so on. But David
here is confessing his sins. His sins. There'll be no forgiveness
without confession. If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us. He that covereth his sins
will not find mercy. will not prosper, but whoso confesseth
and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy." But note the honesty
here in verse 3. I acknowledge my transgressions. I acknowledge my transgressions.
It's mine. My sin is ever before me. It's
mine. It's not somebody else's. It's
mine. These sins are of me and by me
and from me. They're mine. I'm not blaming
anybody. I acknowledge my transgressions,
my sin. You see that? And to him it's
serious because he said, it's ever before me. Look at that
verse in verse 3. My sin is ever before me on my
mind, always with me in my thoughts, bringing me shame and humiliation
and guilt, my sins. It's not somebody else's fault
or somebody else's neglect. Well, I would have been different
if they, no, it's mine. That's an honest confession.
That's an honest confession. I acknowledge my transgression,
my sin as ever before. Don't you, don't you dare let
any of these psychologists or analysts or whatever they are,
talk you into blaming somebody else for your transgressions.
They're yours and they're mine. That's right. That's right. If how a man is
brought up determines what he is, what would Abraham Lincoln
have been? If how he was brought up, if
the example set for him by his father and others, what would
he have been? He was what he was by the grace
of God. And you are what you are worthwhile, and I am by the
grace of God, but what I am naturally is my fault. That's right, it's
my fault. It's my fault. All right, what's this? This
sin, he says it's against thee, verse 4, against thee, thee only
have I sinned. This is, you may do others wrong,
you may fail others. And we do, we fumble around and
fail and we're full of faults, but our sin's against God. Sin's against God. I wish we
were as quick to acknowledge our sin against God as we are
to acknowledge our failures and faults where others are concerned.
He's doing business with God right now. Against thee and thee
only have I sinned. It is sin, it is evil. And done
this evil. Call it what it is. Call it what it is. It's evil. It's sin. I've done this in thy
sight before thee. God looks on the heart. Call
it what it is. I got a letter recently from
a television listener, and I know they mean well, They talked
about how they loved the gospel I preached and all. The letter
went on to talk about how he was brought up and how he never
really did anything bad in his life. You know, not real bad,
he said. Not real bad. Any sin is real bad. I mean,
David calls it what it is. He says, it's mine. It's of me. It's from me. It's what I've
done. And it's against thee. And it's evil. It's evil. The thought of sin
is evil. It's evil. Anything that's not
perfectly whole is evil. And look at the next line in
this confession. That the Almighty be justified
when you speak and clear when you judge. What's David doing?
He's justifying God. Well, I don't think this is right.
Now listen. When the Almighty God declares
it, it's right. It's right. You've got to justify God. This
is highly important. When God's Word says, I'm a sinner,
God, you're right. When He says, I deserve death,
God, you're right. This is what the thief on the
cross, who was justified, said. He said, I'm getting what I deserve. I tell you, I talked to a young
man who's a highway patrolman over in North Carolina. And he
said, the very best thing you can do if you're stopped by a
policeman is admit you're guilty. Just admit it. He said, you're
way ahead when you do that. You start arguing, you're done
for. You're questioning his integrity. You're questioning his honesty. You're questioning him doing
his job, and he doesn't like it. And he said, when I walk
up there, just say, guilty. Guilty. I was going too fast. I was doing this. I'm guilty.
I'm getting what I deserve." Oh, he said, you reach his heart
that way. And he might be lenient with you. He doesn't have to
be, but he might. And David, that's exactly what
he's doing here. He says, God, Lord, have mercy
on me. I acknowledge my sin. I acknowledge
my transgression, my sins ever before me, I've sinned against
you, I've done evil in your sight, and if you judge me, you condemn
me, you're just and righteous. I'll take it." That's just so,
isn't it? All right. And here's the root
of the whole matter. Look at verse 5. Here's the root
of the matter. It's not enough to confess the
water is bad, the fountain is bad. It's not enough to confess that
my outward deeds are evil, my motive, my heart is evil. This
is what he says here, I was shapen in iniquity and sin my mother
conceived me. That's where my problem started. It started in the conception. I'm a sinner. By birth, I was
brought forth from the womb, speaking lies. That's so. Now
listen. Where I stayed last week in the
meeting, I stayed across the hall from the nursery in the
church. They have a special prophet's chamber in the church. They built
a beautiful room with a bath and closet and everything for
the visiting preacher in the church building. I stayed there.
And the nursery's right across the hall, and so I'd just stay
there until the service almost started, but I'd go by the nursery
first and see the children. There'd be four or five of them,
and they're playing. I'd go by and watch them a few minutes,
and then go on in. That's good inspiration for preaching,
to go by and watch those little rascals a few minutes. Anyway,
I went in there, and they got in a fight over some blocks.
I mean, two years old. A year and a half, two years
old. Two darlin' little girls with
their bows in their hairs and their curls and everything, you
know, and pinafores and whatever they wear, you know, with their
socks. You know, they look like little angels on the outside.
But they got in a fight over those blocks. And you think angels. And I said to one of the mothers,
I said, did y'all teach them to do that? No, she said they
was born that way. That's right. That's what David,
that's simple, simple, simply what David's saying here. I was
born that way. They had enough blocks for the
whole community, but the little one of them wanted all of them.
And the black-headed one wanted all of them. And the little boy
wanted all of them. And he was going to use his strength to
get them. And somebody had to come in as
a mediator. George Whitfield preached a sermon
one time, and he said, on repentance, he said, we haven't repented until we repent, number one,
of our sins, S-I-N-S, what we've done, unless we've repented,
number two, of our sin, S-I-N, what we are. We do what we do
because of what we are. That's exactly right. My works are sinful because my
person is. That's right. And thirdly, we
don't repent unless we repent of our righteousness. Even my
righteousness. You see, the best that I do,
the best that I do contains a whole lot of sin. It's so impossible for any man
in the flesh to do anything totally for the glory of God, totally,
without any thought of self, without any selfish motive being
contained in it whatsoever. It's impossible because of our
nature. Don't quit doing good now because
you can't be perfect. because God accepts it for Christ's
sake and in Christ. But that's the problem. David
said, my problem, verse six, behold, you desire truth in the
inward part. That's the soul, the heart. In
the hidden part, you shall make me to know wisdom. That's where
we have to be regenerated. We have to have a new heart,
new nature. Even when we do, though, we still
got the old nature to contend with. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Here's the remedy. So he says, I want mercy because I'm guilty,
and I'm guilty because I'm guilty within. Now, purge me. Purge me with hyssop. Now the
Roman Catholics have a doctrine called purgatory. Purgatory. in which sinners, they go to
purgatory after they die. In other words, everybody goes
to purgatory. And what this is for is so their
sins will be purged by suffering. They stay in purgatory so many
years. This is what they claim. This
is not scriptural. This was invented, purgatory
was invented for the financial gain of the church. They go to
purgatory and stay until they've suffered long enough or their
family's paid enough. That's right, that's where it
all came from. In other words, they used to
have a bell they'd ring when they paid so much for the souls
in purgatory and it says, at the ringing of the bell, one
more soul escapes from hell. when you put the money in, the
bell would ring. And this is what they teach, that this doctrine
is contrary to Scripture and foolish. But now, there's one
truth in it, in all of this error, there's one truth. In order to
go to heaven, a person has to be purged from sin, purified,
purged from sin. But we're not purged by going
to purgatory or being bought out of purgatory, purged by the
blood of Christ. He says, purge me with hyssop. What is hyssop? Here comes the
law of first mention, Exodus 12, 32, first time hyssop is
mentioned in the Bible. It's when Israel was in the land
of Egypt and God would deliver them out.
This is the first time it's hyssops mentioned in the Bible. And when
God would deliver them out, He told Israel to slay a lamb, roast
it with fire, eat it, and take the blood, and take hyssop. It's a plant. It's a plant. Like the leaves of a little plant.
Dip the hyssop in the blood, put it on the lintel, and the
two side posts with no human hands, put in blood. He didn't take the blood and
spirit. Gently, gently sprinkle the hyssop. When the high priest
came into the Holy of Holies, he'd take the hyssop, sprinkle
the mercy seat with blood. David is praying here, Lord,
I got a problem. Sin. It's evil. It's against you. It's in me. Wash me, purge me with hyssop. There's a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty state. Purge me with hyssop and I'll
be clean. The blood of Christ, the sacrifice
of the Son of God. You see, Christ went to the cross
and bore our sins in His body on the tree, and paid for them,
and shed His blood. And we're cleansed by the water
and the blood. When they pierced His side, water
and blood came from His side. Water is the Word to sanctify. Blood is the blood of Christ
just to satisfy, to justify. Top lady, Augustus Montague,
top lady, wrote that hymn, Rock of Ages. He said, let the water
and the blood from thy riven side which flowed be of sin to
double cure, save from its power and make me pure. Sanctify me
and justify me, water and blood. That's what he said. Purge me
with hyssop and I'll be clean. Wash me. Wherewithal shall a
young man cleanse his way, taking heed to the Word of God? Wash
me, I'll be whiter than the snow." Then I can stand in His presence. He can take me and send me to
purgatory, and keep me there till the ages roll, and let me
out, I'm still me. I'm still me. Maybe a little madder. But if He'll wash me in the blood
of the Savior, and sanctify me with the Word of God, and make
me a new creature, and put away my transgressions, I can fit
in up there. All right, and make me to hear
joy and gladness. There's no greater joy than to
hear God say, peace, my peace I give unto thee, thy sins are
forgiven. Make me to hear joy and gladness, not only I want
to hear the voice of a man, I want to hear you say, Thy sins are
forgiven thee, thy faith hath made thee whole, and the bones
which thy broken may rejoice. All right, here's the results,
last. Because you purged me with hyssop and washed me, therefore
you will hide your face from my sins. Hide your face. I'll remember them no more. I'll
cast them behind my back. That would be to hide his face,
wouldn't it? Drop them in the sea, depths
of the sea, and remember them no more. Blot out my transgression. Blot them out. And then create
in me a clean heart. Renew within me a right spirit. May God bless that to your heart
this morning. Let's turn in our hymn books
to number 225.